Relationship, Professional PatientRECiPROsodyNCT06463951
Synchrony and Reciprocity of Body Movements and Prosody Between Psychotherapist and Patient
An observational study of Relationship, Professional Patient, run by Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica at 1 site in Italy.
Trial summary
Modern psychotherapy focuses on co-regulation, where therapist and patient interactively manage emotions. This co-regulation is seen in nonverbal communication like facial expressions, gestures, and prosody (vocal pitchs). Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 20 to 60 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Relationship, Professional Patient
- What is being tested?
- Psychotherapy - Gestalt psychotherapy
- How many people
- 30 participants
- Where
- 1 siteItaly
- Study dates
- 1 Oct 2024to 30 Sep 2026
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 20 to 60 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Study population: All patients admitted to the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center and who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be enrolled, after signing informed consent
Who may be able to join
- Male and female adults between the ages of 20 and 60 years old who are referred to the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center
Who cannot join
- Patients under 20 years of age
- Presence of paranoid or psychotic symptoms
- Admissions to psychiatric Operative Units that have occurred within the last year since the start of psychotherapy at the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Maria Valeria Maiorana contact
Italy1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB) - National Research Council (CNR)
Messina, 98164
Serena Iacono Isidoro, serena.iaconoisidoro@irib.cnr.it
Giovanni Pioggia
About this study
Official title: Study on the Synchrony and Reciprocity of Bodily Movements and Prosody Between Psychotherapist and Patient During Psychotherapy
Modern psychotherapy focuses on co-regulation, where therapist and patient interactively manage emotions. This co-regulation is seen in nonverbal communication like facial expressions, gestures, and prosody (vocal pitchs). Studies show body movements and even skin conductance synchronize between patients and therapists during sessions.
The RECiPROsody project builds on this by using technology (cameras, sensors) to record and analyze these synchronies in psychotherapy sessions. This project aims to understand how this "attunement" between therapist and patient contributes to successful therapy.
Read more
Researchers will explore how patients and therapists interact using a mobile app that records video, audio, physiological signals (heart rate), and movements. Questionnaires will assess patient well-being and therapist experience.
By studying these micro-processes, RECiPROsody hopes to gain insights into how the therapeutic relationship develops, including the connections between physical reactions, nonverbal communication, and overall progress. This knowledge can improve psychotherapeutic techniques and highlight the importance of the nonverbal communication in therapy.
- Conditions
- Relationship, Professional Patient
- Being tested
- Psychotherapy - Gestalt psychotherapy
- Keywords
- psychotherapy, facial mimicry, fidgeting, relational synchrony
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Psychotherapy - Gestalt psychotherapyOther
Gestalt psychotherapy is an aesthetic-phenomenological approach that aims to improve self-awareness and integration by promoting emotional and relational well-being through what is happening in the present moment in the relationship with the therapist. The patient's current experiences are explored to better understand problems and behaviors and by promoting relational self-regulation
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects starting psychotherapy at the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center | The population that decides to undertake psychotherapy is diverse, including individuals of various ages, genders, socioeconomic backgrounds, and occupations. Motivations can vary widely, but often include management of mental disorders, relationship problems, stress, and personal growth. Despite existing barriers, a growing number of people are recognizing the importance of mental well-being and seeking professional support: increasing awareness and reduced stigma related to psychological symptoms are making psychotherapy an increasingly considered option for improving mental well-being and quality of life. Receives: Other: Psychotherapy - Gestalt psychotherapy |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure (CORE-OM)
CORE-OM is a 34-item self-administered questionnaire useful for assessing the outcome of psychological interventions. The CORE items relate to four domains: subjective well-being (4 items), symptoms/problems (12 items), functioning (12 items), and risk (6 items). Use of the CORE-OM provides useful insights by facilitating understanding of the patient's progress during the psychotherapeutic process. Each item is scored on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (most or all the time).
The total score is calculated by adding the response values of all 34 items. The minimum score that can be achieved is 0 and the maximum 136, with higher scores indicating higher distress. Severity consists of six categories, characterizing respondents' psychological distress as either healthy (a score < 6), low-level (6-9), mild (10-14), moderate (15-19), moderate-severe (20-24) or severe (a score > 24).
Measured: The questionnaire will be administered to patients pre-intervention, before the start of psychotherapy [T0] and 6 months after the start of psychotherapy [T1].
Therapist Response Questionnaire (TRQ)
The TRQ is a clinician report of 79 items that measure a wide spectrum of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors expressed by therapists toward their patients, ranging from relatively specific feelings (e.g., "I feel bored in sessions with him/her") to complex constructs, such as projective identification (e.g., "More than with most patients, I feel like I've been pulled into things that I didn't realize until after the session was over").
Items are derived by reviewing the clinical, theoretical, and empirical literature on countertransference and related variables, so that the instrument could be used comparably by therapists of any orientation. The clinicians assess each item on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not true) to 5 (very true). A total TRQ score was calculated by summing all 79 variables. The minimum score that can be achieved is 79 and the maximum 395. This TRQ total score was supposed to capture the general level of self-reported countertransference.
Measured: The questionnaire will be filled out by psychotherapists after the first 4 psychotherapy sessions and every 4 sessions.
Aesthetic Relational Knowing of the Therapist (ARK-T)
The ARK-T scale is a 21-items measure of the therapist's aesthetic and field intuition during the psychotherapeutic process. It is composed by three main factors, "Bodily Awareness" (8 items), "Intuitive Resonance" (8 items), "Affective Empathy" (5 items). Each item is scored on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The score could range from 21 to 105 and it could be correlate with the outcome of psychotherapy, or even with the measurement of relational factors such as the therapist's responsiveness, his or her self-compassion, and many other aspects developed within the various psychotherapeutic approaches. It will thus be possible to correlate this particular type of insight, to date little studied in the literature, with the effectiveness of psychotherapy, as well as with other aspects of the therapist's training and personality, e.g., personal psychotherapy, caring attitude toward self, ethics of responsivity toward the patient.
Measured: The questionnaire will be filled out by psychotherapists after the first 4 psychotherapy sessions.
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - Assessment (CORE-A)
The CORE-A allows for the collection of demographic data regarding patient, referral (date, first episode, relapse), patient's resources (family, financial condition), previous or ongoing treatment to ongoing drug treatments, on the severity of the disorder (4-point scale) and its duration (<6 months, 6-12 months, >12 months, recurrent), data on self- and heterolesive risk (4-point scale), on the outcome of the assessment (accepted psychotherapy, sent, etc.)
Measured: The instrument will be filled out by the therapist after the first 4 sessions.
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - End of therapy (CORE-E)
The CORE-E, also filled out by the therapist, collects data (comparable with the Assessment) on the type of psychotherapy performed, modality, frequency, mode of termination, reassessment of problems assessed at assessment and risk, assessment of contextual factors (motivation, therapeutic alliance, level of mentalization), benefits of therapy (e.g, insight capacity, expression of problems and moods, coping strategies, ability to make decisions, to ask for help, subjective well-being, symptoms, daily functioning, interpersonal relationships, possible drug therapy, and to agreements on possible follow-up).
Measured: The instrument will be filled out by the therapist 6 months after the start of psychotherapy [T1].
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted18 Jun 2024
- Study start1 Oct 2024
- Primary completion30 Apr 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion30 Sep 2026 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (5)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Relationship, Professional PatientStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Enrolment
- 30 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy - Centro Clinico e di Ricerca in Psicoterapia HCC Italy
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Giovanni Pioggia, Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica
- Investigators
- Giovanni Pioggia, Principal investigator, Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06463951
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- CNR-IRIB-PRO-2024-006
- Acronym
- RECiPROsody
- Status last verified
- Apr 2025
- First submitted
- 11 Jun 2024
- Last updated
- 1 May 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Gallese, V. (2009). Mirror neurons, embodied simulation, and the neural basis of social identification. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 19(5), 519-536. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481880903231910
Reinecke K.C.H., Dvoretska1 D., Joraschky P., Lausberg H. (2020). Fidgeting Behavior During Psychotherapy: Hand Movement Structure Contains Information About Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 50:323-329 doi: 10.1007/s10879-020-09465-5
Schore J., Schore A. (2008). Modern attachment theory: the central role of affect regulation in development and treatment. Clin. Soc. Work J. 36: 9-20. doi: 10.1007/s10615-007-0111-7
Tschacher W, Meier D. Physiological synchrony in psychotherapy sessions. Psychother Res. 2020 Jun;30(5):558-573. doi: 10.1080/10503307.2019.1612114. Epub 2019 May 6.
PubMed 31060474Wampold, B.E., Imel, Z. E. (2015). The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work. Abingdom: Routledge.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 1 May 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Study on the Synchrony and Reciprocity of Bodily Movements and Prosody Between Psychotherapist and Patient During Psychotherapy
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06463951
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- RECiPROsody / CNR-IRIB-PRO-2024-006
- Conditions
- Relationship, Professional Patient
- Keywords
- psychotherapy, facial mimicry, fidgeting, relational synchrony
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 30 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione BiomedicaUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy - Centro Clinico e di Ricerca in Psicoterapia HCC Italy
- Study start
- 1 Oct 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 Apr 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 30 Sep 2026 (estimated)
- First posted
- 18 Jun 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Modern psychotherapy focuses on co-regulation, where therapist and patient interactively manage emotions. This co-regulation is seen in nonverbal communication like facial expressions, gestures, and prosody (vocal pitchs). Studies show body movements and even skin conductance synchronize between patients and therapists during sessions.
The RECiPROsody project builds on this by using technology (cameras, sensors) to record and analyze these synchronies in psychotherapy sessions. This project aims to understand how this "attunement" between therapist and patient contributes to successful therapy.
Researchers will explore how patients and therapists interact using a mobile app that records video, audio, physiological signals (heart rate), and movements. Questionnaires will assess patient well-being and therapist experience.
By studying these micro-processes, RECiPROsody hopes to gain insights into how the therapeutic relationship develops, including the connections between physical reactions, nonverbal communication, and overall progress. This knowledge can improve psychotherapeutic techniques and highlight the importance of the nonverbal communication in therapy.
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Subjects starting psychotherapy at the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center | – | Other: Psychotherapy - Gestalt psychotherapyThe population that decides to undertake psychotherapy is diverse, including individuals of various ages, genders, socioeconomic backgrounds, and occupations. Motivations can vary widely, but often include management of mental disorders, relationship problems, stress, and personal growth. Despite existing barriers, a growing number of people are recognizing the importance of mental well-being and seeking professional support: increasing awareness and reduced stigma related to psychological symptoms are making psychotherapy an increasingly considered option for improving mental well-being and quality of life. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 20 to 60 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
- Study population
- All patients admitted to the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center and who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be enrolled, after signing informed consent
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Male and female adults between the ages of 20 and 60 years old who are referred to the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Patients under 20 years of age
- Presence of paranoid or psychotic symptoms
- Admissions to psychiatric Operative Units that have occurred within the last year since the start of psychotherapy at the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Psychotherapy - Gestalt psychotherapyGestalt psychotherapy is an aesthetic-phenomenological approach that aims to improve self-awareness and integration by promoting emotional and relational well-being through what is happening in the present moment in the relationship with the therapist. The patient's current experiences are explored to better understand problems and behaviors and by promoting relational self-regulation | Other | Subjects starting psychotherapy at the HCC Italy Clinical and Psychotherapy Research Center |
Primary outcome
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure (CORE-OM)
Time frame: The questionnaire will be administered to patients pre-intervention, before the start of psychotherapy [T0] and 6 months after the start of psychotherapy [T1].
CORE-OM is a 34-item self-administered questionnaire useful for assessing the outcome of psychological interventions. The CORE items relate to four domains: subjective well-being (4 items), symptoms/problems (12 items), functioning (12 items), and risk (6 items). Use of the CORE-OM provides useful insights by facilitating understanding of the patient's progress during the psychotherapeutic process. Each item is scored on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (most or all the time). The total score is calculated by adding the response values of all 34 items. The minimum score that can be achieved is 0 and the maximum 136, with higher scores indicating higher distress. Severity consists of six categories, characterizing respondents' psychological distress as either healthy (a score < 6), low-level (6-9), mild (10-14), moderate (15-19), moderate-severe (20-24) or severe (a score > 24).
Therapist Response Questionnaire (TRQ)
Time frame: The questionnaire will be filled out by psychotherapists after the first 4 psychotherapy sessions and every 4 sessions.
The TRQ is a clinician report of 79 items that measure a wide spectrum of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors expressed by therapists toward their patients, ranging from relatively specific feelings (e.g., "I feel bored in sessions with him/her") to complex constructs, such as projective identification (e.g., "More than with most patients, I feel like I've been pulled into things that I didn't realize until after the session was over"). Items are derived by reviewing the clinical, theoretical, and empirical literature on countertransference and related variables, so that the instrument could be used comparably by therapists of any orientation. The clinicians assess each item on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not true) to 5 (very true). A total TRQ score was calculated by summing all 79 variables. The minimum score that can be achieved is 79 and the maximum 395. This TRQ total score was supposed to capture the general level of self-reported countertransference.
Aesthetic Relational Knowing of the Therapist (ARK-T)
Time frame: The questionnaire will be filled out by psychotherapists after the first 4 psychotherapy sessions.
The ARK-T scale is a 21-items measure of the therapist's aesthetic and field intuition during the psychotherapeutic process. It is composed by three main factors, "Bodily Awareness" (8 items), "Intuitive Resonance" (8 items), "Affective Empathy" (5 items). Each item is scored on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The score could range from 21 to 105 and it could be correlate with the outcome of psychotherapy, or even with the measurement of relational factors such as the therapist's responsiveness, his or her self-compassion, and many other aspects developed within the various psychotherapeutic approaches. It will thus be possible to correlate this particular type of insight, to date little studied in the literature, with the effectiveness of psychotherapy, as well as with other aspects of the therapist's training and personality, e.g., personal psychotherapy, caring attitude toward self, ethics of responsivity toward the patient.
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - Assessment (CORE-A)
Time frame: The instrument will be filled out by the therapist after the first 4 sessions.
The CORE-A allows for the collection of demographic data regarding patient, referral (date, first episode, relapse), patient's resources (family, financial condition), previous or ongoing treatment to ongoing drug treatments, on the severity of the disorder (4-point scale) and its duration (<6 months, 6-12 months, >12 months, recurrent), data on self- and heterolesive risk (4-point scale), on the outcome of the assessment (accepted psychotherapy, sent, etc.)
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - End of therapy (CORE-E)
Time frame: The instrument will be filled out by the therapist 6 months after the start of psychotherapy [T1].
The CORE-E, also filled out by the therapist, collects data (comparable with the Assessment) on the type of psychotherapy performed, modality, frequency, mode of termination, reassessment of problems assessed at assessment and risk, assessment of contextual factors (motivation, therapeutic alliance, level of mentalization), benefits of therapy (e.g, insight capacity, expression of problems and moods, coping strategies, ability to make decisions, to ask for help, subjective well-being, symptoms, daily functioning, interpersonal relationships, possible drug therapy, and to agreements on possible follow-up).
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 1 May 2025.
- BackgroundGallese, V. (2009). Mirror neurons, embodied simulation, and the neural basis of social identification. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 19(5), 519-536. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481880903231910
- BackgroundReinecke K.C.H., Dvoretska1 D., Joraschky P., Lausberg H. (2020). Fidgeting Behavior During Psychotherapy: Hand Movement Structure Contains Information About Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 50:323-329 doi: 10.1007/s10879-020-09465-5
- BackgroundSchore J., Schore A. (2008). Modern attachment theory: the central role of affect regulation in development and treatment. Clin. Soc. Work J. 36: 9-20. doi: 10.1007/s10615-007-0111-7
- Background: PubMed 31060474Tschacher W, Meier D. Physiological synchrony in psychotherapy sessions. Psychother Res. 2020 Jun;30(5):558-573. doi: 10.1080/10503307.2019.1612114. Epub 2019 May 6.
- BackgroundWampold, B.E., Imel, Z. E. (2015). The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work. Abingdom: Routledge.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Maria Valeria Maiorana contact
Giovanni Pioggia principal investigator
Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of Relationship, Professional Patient, run by Istituto per la Ricerca e l'Innovazione Biomedica at 1 site in Italy.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 1 May 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Italy. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Giovanni Pioggia (+393203390892, giovanni.pioggia@irib.cnr.it), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) (time frame: The questionnaire will be administered to patients pre-intervention, before the start of psychotherapy [T0] and 6 months after the start of psychotherapy [T1].). The study lists 5 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06463951, which also lists 5 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 1 May 2025.