{"id":30087,"date":"2015-12-09T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T18:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=30087"},"modified":"2015-12-09T11:30:55","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T19:30:55","slug":"can-a-computer-assess-quality-of-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/can-a-computer-assess-quality-of-therapy-1209151","title":{"rendered":"Can a Computer Assess Quality of Therapy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"therapistConfidentiality in therapy is vital to the therapeutic process. Confidentiality also means outside observers cannot weigh in on the quality of therapy. In search of a reliable way to evaluate therapy quality, a study published this month in PLOS One <\/em>proposes one potential model: a computer that can evaluate therapists\u2019 empathy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Evaluating Empathy with a Computer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Researchers from University of Southern California, University of Washington, and University of Utah say methods for evaluating therapy that require an outside observer can potentially alter the therapeutic process and undermine confidentiality. As an alternative, they developed a program that listens to therapy sessions<\/a>, then rates the therapist as either \u201chigh empathy\u201d or \u201clow empathy\u201d based on a speech analysis.<\/p>\n

Using therapist training sessions, the team taught the program to detect empathy cues in language. Phrases that signal the highest amounts of empathy include \u201cit sounds like,\u201d \u201cdo you think,\u201d and \u201cwhat I’m hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathy Hardie-Williams, MEd, MS, NCC, LPC, LMFT<\/a>, said such phrases measure the extent to which a therapist hears and mirrors the emotions<\/a> of people in therapy.<\/p>\n

\n\t

Find a Therapist<\/a><\/h2>\n\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\tAdvanced Search<\/a>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\u201cNot to be confused with sympathy, empathy is a person\u2019s ability to recognize and share the emotions of another while seeing the situation from the other person\u2019s perspective,\u201d Hardie-Williams said. \u201cSympathy is a feeling of care or concern for another, but does not have the component of a shared perspective or shared emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The University of Southern California\u2019s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab continues to improve upon the model. Researchers are now working to help the program analyze tone of voice, diction, and the extent to which a therapist mirrors the speech patterns of people in therapy.<\/p>\n

The Role of Empathy in Therapy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Empathy is just one component of quality therapy, but Hardie-Williams said it is vital to people\u2019s willingness to openly share with their therapists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe genuine empathy is important in therapy because in order to maintain the therapeutic alliance<\/a>, [people] need to be able to perceive that the therapist can share [their] emotions and experiences,\u201d Hardie-Williams said. \u201c[People] who come in for therapy often have a deep shame<\/a> core that gets in their way, and\u00a0in order to process it, they need to share their shame with someone they feel emotionally safe with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choosing a Therapist <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Everyone may seek something different from a therapist, but in general it can be important to recognize some guidelines for effective therapy<\/a>. People seeking a therapist<\/a> should also be attuned to warning signs of bad or ineffective therapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reference:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blumenthal, A. (2015, December 2). Can you tell if your therapist has empathy? Retrieved from https:\/\/news.usc.edu\/89274\/can-you-tell-if-your-therapist-has-empathy\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers from three universities have developed technology that may be able to assess levels of empathy in a therapist. How important is empathy in therapy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2555,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[31,49],"class_list":["post-30087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-therapy-news","tag-psychotherapy-practice","tag-considering-psychotherapy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}