Nonverbal Training for Psychotherapy

Abstract

Psychotherapy encourages attention to nonverbal behavior, and yet, clinical intervention with client nonverbal behavior remains remarkably unsystemized. Three general beliefs about nonverbal behavior which limit intervention with nonverbal behavior are described and challenged. To overcome barriers to clinical work with nonverbal behavior, a training design is outlined which (1) encourages continuity from academ~c preparation through internship and ongoing professional supervision, and (2) defines a specific clinical nonverbal objective, and (3) directs attention to multichannel communication rather than to mutually-exclusive verbal and nonverbal cues. Dydactic and experiential learning modules are arranged in sequence to enhance a therapist's capaclty to decode and encode and intervene with client nonverbal behavior. CWNICAL IMPLICATIONS OF NONVERBAL RESEARCHNonverbal behavior has had longstanding clinical recognition for its role in facilitating general human development (e.g., Sullivan, 1954; Allport, 1961) and in being a significant aspect of expression in psychotherapy (e.g., Freud, 1905;Dittman et al., 1965; Beier, 1966; Scheflen, 1973;D. Hill, 1974;Kinston & Wolff, 1975;and Waxer, 1978). Nonverbal behavior easily surpasses verbal expression as the quantitatively predominant behavior in human interac-Lance M. Kinseth, ACSW, LSW, is with the Des Moines (1970). The communication of inferior and superior attitudes by verbal and nonverbal signals. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9, 222-231. Argyle, M. (1978). Nonverbal communication and mental disorder. Psychological Medicine, 8, 551-554. Beier, E. G. (1966). The silent language ofpsychotherapy. Chicago: Aldine. Berdach, E., & Bakan, P. (1967). Body position and the free recall of memories.

REsCUE

“…For example, teachers are encouraged to pay attention to nonverbal behaviors of students, which convey their underlying feelings [36]. In addition, not only teachers or therapists [37] but also salespeople [48] or entrepreneurs [47] are expected to get a handle on nonverbal behavioral cues. Subsequently, a research domain of automatically analyzing nonverbal behaviors, which is often referred to as social signal processing [59], has spread.…”

Pre-practicum training to facilitate social inference competency.

“…More specifically, findings that aesthetic training can increase observational skills, interpretation of nonverbal cues, and empathy in medical and nursing students generalize to skills needed in patient interactions in psychotherapy (Boice, 1983;Hill & Stephany, 1990;Kinseth, 1989). Further, they mirror the inter vention competences identified as necessary for professional psy chology (Spruill et al, 2004).…”