A PRELIMINARY-STUDY OF THE ROLE OF ATTUNEMENT IN ADULT PSYCHOTHERAPY

This paper presents the results of a preliminary study on the recognit ion of affect attunement in adult psychotherapy. Brief extracts from s ix videotaped therapy sessions were shown to experienced clinicians, w ho were asked to judge whether the therapist was attuned to the client /patient or not. Clear examples Of attunement and non-attunement were obtained and these were then shown to a sample of postgraduate social work trainees. The trainee results showed none of the consistency of t he clinicians' judgments: 67% (n = 21) were undecided about the exampl e of attunement, with only 19.3% (It = 6) giving responses which corre sponded with those of the clinicians. For the non-attuned extract, jus t over a third gave a response which coincided with the clinicians, wi th 42% (n = 13) undecided. The results were used to develop a model fo r future research on affect attunement, which should provide the basis for the development of strategies for teaching the attunement skills which may be required by therapists.