Manifestation of silences in therapist-patient interaction and the psychotherapeutic process

Abstract

This research addresses the manifestations of silences in the therapist-patient interaction and along the psychotherapeutic process. It is intended to establish the participation of silences in several forms of interaction between patient and therapist and also throughout the sessions of a long-term therapy. To achieve these objectives, a mixed methodology, consisting of two sequential studies. To achieve these goals, was created a Coding System of Silences for Therapists and Patients (PICS-TP), based on the adaptation of a coding system of silences for patients in psychotherapy, and created categories of silences for therapists. A study of the reliability of the PICS-TP from the encoding of a long-term therapy psychodynamic counselling. Results of descriptive and inferential statistical analysis are presented. Those results allow to set and describe characteristics of the participation of silences between patient and therapist and the psychotherapeutic process. The central points of the discussion and conclusion indicate that it was not possible to determine strategies for the participation of the silences that were statistically significant, with good predictive and explanatory properties. However, it exposed the strengths and contributions possible PICS-TP, emphasizing its descriptive results of the types of silences in types of interactive scenarios and results obtained by actor (therapist or patient), as well as their potential contribution to the training of therapists in training. Key words: silences, interaction therapist patient, regulatory function.