Embodiments and co-actions: The function of trust and re-enactment in the practice of psychotherapy

Sarah Bro Trasmundi; Johanne S. Philipsen

doi:10.1515/cogsem-2020-2032

Article

Embodiments and co-actions: The function of trust and re-enactment in the practice of psychotherapy

Sarah Bro Trasmundi and Johanne S. Philipsen

Published/Copyright: November 2, 2020

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From the journal Cognitive Semiotics Volume 13 Issue 2

Abstract

This paper is an empirically-based theoretical contribution to the field of research that investigates the function of trust and re-enactment in psychotherapeutic interaction. We use an ecological, embodied approach that pays attention to how human interaction is constrained by multiple timescales (past, present and future). The analysis sheds light on how trust, here in terms of a therapeutic alliance, is enabled, performed and maintained in interaction through the work with embodied re-enactments of previous events. Specifically, we describe how this therapeutic work constitutes an emerging, situated opportunity for teaching/practising embodied emotion regulation in the form of a co-participated enaction of “taking a deep breath,” and we emphasise how embodied, co-participated re-enactment of past (dys)functional behaviours outside of therapy can be a resource for redirecting, teaching and reinforcing therapeutically relevant behaviours in the context of therapy presenting themselves as fruitful opportunities for facilitating incremental change. Further, psychotherapy serves as a useful case for demonstrating the relevance of such an embodied interaction approach far more generally.

Keywords: embodied interaction; embodied cognition; re-enactment; trust; psychotherapy

Corresponding author: Sarah Bro Trasmundi, University of Southern Denmark, Centre for Human Interactivity, Advanced Cognitive Ethnography Lab, Odense, Denmark, E-mail: sarbro@sdu.dk

Funding source: Velux Foundation

Award Identifier / Grant number: 10384

Acknowledgments

We thank all employees and psychotherapists at the outpatient clinic for anxiety and personality disorders at Brønderslev Psychiatric Hospital, Denmark, as well as all patients who contributed to the research project.

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Published Online: 2020-11-02

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Keywords for this article

embodied interaction; embodied cognition; re-enactment; trust; psychotherapy