Translational Research on Psychotherapy

The research project aims at the ecologically valid evaluation of couples’ everyday interaction. Specifically, the association between the accuracy of the emotional understanding of the partner (empathic accuracy), interpersonal motives and indicators of relationship quality will be evaluated in couples. Based on findings on the role of interpersonal motives for couples, the present study introduces the accuracy of ratings of partner’s situational interpersonal motives as a novel conceptualization of social functioning in couples. As evaluation method a smartphone messenger application is used, which combines features of ecological momentary assessment and communication tools. The app enables users to communicate but also share affective states and interpersonal motives and is therefore a non-intrusive method to assess individual and interpersonal states in a naturalistic way. The main goal of the research project is the cross-sectional investigation between couples, whether more accurate ratings of emotions (higher empathic accuracy) and interpersonal motives (higher accuracy of motive ratings) are related to higher quality of relationship in both partners.

Activating positive resources provides pragmatic strategies that help patients to become aware of their strengths in order to use them to work on their problems (Flückiger & Wüsten, 2015). One method of intervention from the field of positive psychology, which should specifically activate patient resources, is improvisation therapy or applied improvisation, which has arisen from improvisation theater. In one of the first studies, Sheesley, Pfeffer, and Barish (2016) were able to show a change in the areas of group cohesion, playfulness, humor and expressiveness in social anxiety through the use of improvisation techniques. The aim of the planned study is to evaluate the supplementation of inpatient therapy for depressed patients by improvisation-based groups.

MITMed: Multimodal Interaction System for Telemedicine – Complementing Video-Based Psychotherapy Through a Wearable and Integrated IS (funded project by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research – BMBF, scientific coordination of the research consortium with industrial participation)

The global Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on mental health within our society. Not only have mental health conditions deteriorated due to social isolation, but also the provision of adequate health care services has become challenging. In the psychotherapeutic context especially, overcoming issues related to emotional distance and the therapeutic relationship has proven difficult when the interaction between patient and therapist relies on video or text-based systems alone. To deal with these challenges, MITMed aims to develop a hybrid interaction system that complements video-based psychotherapy in situations where face-to-face contact is not possible. The system will integrate tactile cues using an innovative wearable, thereby enabling the intuitive exchange of information on individual states during video therapy. Moreover, the project will ensure the system’s connectivity with a well-established mental e-health platform as well as a hospital information system.