Negative therapeutic consequences or side effects of psychotherapy have received increasing attention in psychotherapy research in recent years. In clinical practice, possible risks and expected consequences must be taken into account when informing patients in accordance with the Patient Rights Act. To date, however, there have been no systematically collected findings on possible negative consequences of body-oriented psychotherapy methods. In view of existing reservations about body-oriented psychotherapy, the question arises as to whether this form of therapy has specific undesirable effects or whether these are present to a greater extent than in verbal therapy methods. This question is investigated using the example of concentrative movement therapy (CBT), which is established in inpatient psychotherapy as an adjuvant body-oriented group psychotherapy method. Initial results show that, as with other therapy methods, negative therapeutic consequences are frequently recorded in (partially) inpatient CBT group treatment. There is little evidence of a typical risk profile or that this form of treatment represents a particular burden compared to other treatments.

Resulting publication:

Seidler KP, Grützmacher S, Epner A, & Schreiber-Willnow K. Negative therapeutic consequences of body-oriented group psychotherapy using the example of concentrative movement therapy. Psychotherapist. 2020;65(4):244-256. DOI

Concentrative movement therapy (CBT) is a psychodynamically oriented method of body psychotherapy that is used in Germany, particularly in psychotherapeutic-psychosomatic (rehabilitation) Clinical Departments, mainly as a group treatment. Even though a number of empirical studies on CBT are already available, many questions about its effectiveness and mode of action are still unanswered. Questionnaires have therefore been developed to enable patients and CBT therapists to assess the effectiveness and impact factors of CBT group treatment. Initial results indicate that these questionnaires have sufficiently good reliability and factorial validity. It was possible to identify assessment dimensions that capture CBT-related effectiveness factors and effects (e.g. positive body-related experiences and effects) on the one hand and reflect general therapeutic effectiveness factors (e.g. positive group atmosphere) on the other.

Attachment theory describes different strategies for how people cope emotionally and interpersonally with current situations of threat or (inner) distress based on previous attachment experiences. A distinction is made between a secure, deactivating and hyperactivating strategy and corresponding patterns of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-ambivalent attachment. It seems plausible to assume that the attachment style of patients also has an influence on their experience and behavior in psychotherapy. The research group is specifically investigating whether the self-experience of patients in therapy differs depending on their attachment style. The results of a pilot study largely confirm the hypotheses that the self-experience of patients with a secure attachment style is less problematic or more positive than that of patients with an insecure attachment style and is characterized by different features in the case of insecure attachment styles.

Resulting publication:

Seidler KP, Höger D. Is the self-experience of patients* in the psychotherapy hour related to their attachment pattern? Person 2020;24(2):1-13

Meta-analyses have shown that the attachment style of patients is a predictor of success in psychotherapy. However, little is known about the processes involved in psychotherapy. A study by the research group is investigating whether psychiatric patients experience the therapeutic relationship differently depending on their attachment style and can therefore benefit differently from day-clinic psychiatric-psychotherapeutic treatment. Initial results show that patients with an insecure attachment style tend to experience the therapeutic relationship congruently with their attachment style, i.e. how this is reflected in their expectations of the therapeutic relationship at the start of therapy. Patients with a so-called "conditionally secure" attachment style, on the other hand, tend to have a somewhat corrective experience in the therapeutic relationship: While they state at the beginning of therapy that they hardly expect any affection from their therapist, by the end of treatment they state that they have received a lot of affection. Patients with a conditionally secure attachment style who have had this corrective therapeutic relationship experience show the greatest improvement in their experience of symptoms at the end of day clinic treatment.