Remembering emotions experienced during psychotherapeutic treatment

Abstract

We report on a patient and a psychotherapist from whom we gathered ratings of the patient's emotions and personal development during ongoing psychotherapeutic treatment for 2.5 years. Both the patient and the therapist wrote 'diary notes' (process notes) after each session. The patient evaluated her overall emotional reaction during the session and judged her personal development. The therapist followed the same procedure, but evaluated the patient's overall emotional reaction and personal development. Patient and therapist were tested separately after completion of the therapy. The test covered 28 therapy sessions. Results show no concordance between patient and therapist with regard to their perception of the patient's emotional reactions during sessions, nor with regard to their recall of these reactions. The patient showed a tendency to underestimate her emotions, whereas the therapist had a tendency to overestimate the patient's emotions. Patient and therapist were, however, concordant in their progress evaluation of the patient's personal development. An explanation for these differences may be found in the participants' different roles.