The S-F Oscillations in Psychotherapy

Dynamical Systems Research in psychotherapy has produced a large body of literature on the presence of high-stability and high-flexibility states within good psychotherapy processes. However, it is not clear what happens within these states that is so important for therapeutic progress. This study aims to clarify the characteristics of high-stability and high-flexibility states and their connections with the good psychotherapy process. To this aim, 230 inpatient psychotherapies, were analyzed by means of principal component analysis. The “Therapy Process Questionnaire” was administered daily through the “Synergetics Navigation Systems” software. In 100% of the cases studied, high-stability states are characterized by a reduction in the number of the most relevant principal components of the process variables, and by the tendency of loadings to integrate into the patient’s main functioning. On the other hand, high-flexibility states are characterized by an increase in the number of the most relevant components, and by the tendency of loadings to splitting among different components. Stability-Flexibility oscillations can be interpreted as the empirical evidence of processes of splitting and reintegration of new information within the patient’s main functioning.