Measurement of anxiety in psychotherapy process research.
A new technique designed to measure a patient's anxiety during a psychotherapeutic interview is described. Videotaped recordings were made of interviews between 2 psychotherapists and 6 patients. The anxiety levels experienced by the patients during the interview were measured in three ways. One therapist signalled his recognition of a patient's changing anxiety levels and his interventions to manipulate the patient's anxiety during the interview. Subsequently, the 2 therapists and 6 patients made independent retrospective ratings while viewing a recording of the interview. Significant agreement was found between three sets of ratings and the results suggest that the technique may be of value in psychotherapy process research.
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors