Work and force in psychotherapy

Abstract

This paper presents a deterministic model for the work done on both patient and therapist in a 5-dimensional, 2400 state system. The data are drawn from six psychotherapy consultation sessions, and the quantified dimensions were selected mainly on the basis of a conceptualization of empirical signs of unconscious communication. The concept of work used is drawn from the physics of motion which sees work as the integral of force along its path of action. The definition of force is Newtonian ( F = m a). The present model, verified by regression analysis ( p ⪡ 10 −5), posits that the work done by the force derived from the patient/therapist interaction in changing patient and therapist states is a linear function of time. Hence, the force is non-conservative because approximately one half of all states are revisited and positive work is done in returning the patient or therapist to a prior state. Thus, the work done in moving the patient or therapist from an initial to a final state depends upon the path chosen from initial to final state. An application of Stokes' Theorem confirms that the force tends to return both patient and therapist to prior states in 5-dimensional space, and shows that the force also constrains the motion of the “information particle” under study to an ellipsoidal shell whose center coordinates are in a lower region of a 5-dimensional cube. This region corresponds to low level of unconscious expression. The motion constrained by this geometry appears to reflect general and individual communicative styles or preferences. The present findings also support prior results on the nature of informational entropy. The implications of these findings for the nature of the therapeutic process are discussed.