Therapeutisches Zyklusmodell: Computergestützte Textanalyse in der Psychotherapieforschung [Therapeutic cycles model: Computer-assisted text analysis in psychotherapy research]

Within-session language used by clients and/or therapists can reveal clinically meaningful processes. For this reason, the text analysis of session transcripts has been shown to be a valuable approach for a better understanding of how psychotherapy works. The therapeutic cycles model (TCM) is a computer-assisted model to be used with this aim. This article reviews the theoretical background and empirical findings of TCM and provides suggestions for future research. Emotional and abstract words used by the client and by the therapist are automatically assessed within session transcripts and used to identify different modalities of cognitive emotional regulation (relaxing, experiencing, reflecting and connecting) of the client, of the therapist and of the dyad. Moreover, a specific sequence of such modalities of emotional cognitive regulation is finally used to identify moments of therapeutic progress (therapeutic cycles). Several empirical studies showed that the key TCM variables (connecting, therapeutic cycles) are indicative of clinically relevant within-session processes and may have an influence on treatment outcome. Future process and process outcome studies should be conducted in order to further expand and elucidate the empirical evidence in favor of the TCM.