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Sympathetic Nervous System Synchrony in Couple Therapy

The aim of this study was to test whether there is statistically significant sympathetic nervous system (SNS) synchrony between participants in couple therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first study to measure psychophysiological synchrony during therapy in a multiactor setting. The study focuses...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marital and family therapy 2016-07, Vol.42 (3), p.383-395
Main Authors: Karvonen, Anu, Kykyri, Virpi-Liisa, Kaartinen, Jukka, Penttonen, Markku, Seikkula, Jaakko
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The aim of this study was to test whether there is statistically significant sympathetic nervous system (SNS) synchrony between participants in couple therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first study to measure psychophysiological synchrony during therapy in a multiactor setting. The study focuses on electrodermal activity (EDA) in the second couple therapy session from 10 different cases (20 clients, 10 therapists working in pairs). The EDA concordance index was used as a measure of SNS synchrony between dyads, and synchrony was found in 85% of all the dyads. Surprisingly, co‐therapists exhibited the highest levels of synchrony, whereas couples exhibited the lowest synchrony. The client–therapist synchrony was lower than that of the co‐therapists, but higher than that of the couples. A Video is available next to the online version of this article on the JMFT web site. A Video is available next to the online version of this article on the JMFT web site.
ISSN:0194-472X
1752-0606
DOI:10.1111/jmft.12152