VERBAL EXCHANGE STRUCTURE OF BRIEF PSYCHODYNAMIC-INTERPERSONAL AND COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

A verbal exchange is a set of 2 people's co-occurring speech-act categ ories that accomplish some subtask within an interpersonal encounter. Factor analysis of verbal response mode (speech act) frequencies in 1, 630 segments (each approximately 10 to 12 min) drawn from the brief ps ychodynamic-interpersonal or cognitive-behavioral treatment of 39 main ly depressed clients identified 6 exchanges in each treatment-4 that w ere the same in both treatments (Revealing, Storytelling, Explaining, and Inquiring) and 2 that distinguished each treatment (Exploring and Interpreting in psychodynamic-interpersonal treatment; Prescribing and Reframing in cognitive-behavioral treatment). The exchanges showed di stinctive temporal patterns across segments of sessions and across ses sions of each time-limited treatment. The verbal exchange is a midsize concept that links atomistic verbal codes with clinical or theoretica l concepts.