Nonverbal behavioral similarity between patients with depression in remission and interviewers in relation to satisfaction and recurrence of depression

Abstract

Unsatisfying interpersonal relationships are involved in the onset and course of depression. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. In this study we investigated the nonverbal communication between 101 patients with remitted depression and interviewers. We related the interaction between the patients' and interviewers' behavior to patients' satisfaction with the interview and to the risk of recurrence of depression. We registered the patients' and interviewers' nonverbal displays of involvement during a clinical interview and assessed the patients' satisfaction with the interview. Possible recurrence of depression was assessed within a 2-year follow-up. Based on findings in healthy people, we hypothesized that the more similar the levels of the patients' and interviewers' behavior became during the interview, the more satisfied the patients would turn out to be. Furthermore, we hypothesized that lack of similarity in the levels of the patients' and interviewers' involvement behavior would predict recurrence of depression. Our hypotheses were confirmed: The more the patients' and interviewers' behavior converged, the more satisfied the patients were with the interview and the lower the risk of recurrence of depression. Satisfaction did not mediate the association between convergence and risk of recurrence. Also, no gender effects were found. We conclude that nonverbal communication processes are involved in the risk of recurrence of depression. Remitted people's difficulties in reaching nonverbal convergence with others may hamper them in their interpersonal functioning and, as a consequence, may put them at risk for new episodes of depression.

Nonverbal synchrony in psychotherapy: Coordinated body movement reflects relationship quality and outcome.

“…It is conceivable that in more severe cases of psychopathology (e.g. severe major depressive episode/acute mania), synchrony could be less evident (Geerts et al, 2006) when nonverbal behavior is more strongly influenced by psychopathology (Kupper et al, 2010).…”

Interpersonal Coordination Dynamics in Psychotherapy: A Systematic Review

“…A large percentage of the remaining studies relied on cross-correlations (N = 11), which typically quantified coordination by taking an absolute value of the cross-correlation functions across windows and at various lags (e.g., Galbusera et al 2016;Ramseyer and Tschacher 2011). In addition, there were a number of studies that used various scores (N = 15) that involved calculating differences between speaking efforts (Geerts et al 2006) or skin conductance levels (Marci et al 2004), summing dominant behaviors of the patient and therapist (Altenstein et al 2013), or dividing complementary behaviors of the patient by those of the therapist (Ahmed et al 2012). Three studies used cross-recurrence quantification analysis.…”

Nonverbal Behavior During Clinical Interviews

“…In depression, it has been demonstrated that the analysis of nonverbal behavior may have greater predictive value in terms of response to treatment and relapse than standard rating scales for psychopathology (Bouhuys, 2003;Fossi et al, 1984;Geerts et al, 1996;McGuire and Polsky, 1979;Schelde et al, 1988;Schelde, 1994Schelde, , 1998Troisi et al, 1989). Specifically, Geerts et al (1995Geerts et al ( , 1996 revealed that the degree of convergence of nonverbal behaviors between patient and therapist during an interview predicts outcome and treatment response (Geerts et al, 2006). Therefore, these studies clearly underscore the usefulness of ethological approaches for several clinically relevant issues, including prediction of relapse, response to treatment, and recovery (reviewed in Geerts and Brüne, 2009).…”