Emergent Moments in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

This open access book presents an innovative interdisciplinary approach to psychotherapy process research and will be of interest to both researchers and practising psychotherapists. Building on previous collaborations between psychoanalytic psychotherapy research and dance studies, the authors apply seven different research approaches to the analysis of three sessions from a psychodynamic psychotherapy. The independent analyses of verbal, nonverbal, embodied, and physiological processes consistently identified the same key moments within the sessions. These moments appear to reflect the emergence of significant therapeutic events and correspond to the concept of the moment of meeting, described by the Boston Change Process Study Group as a crucial catalyst of therapeutic change and the development of implicit relational knowledge. The book then examines these moments in detail from all seven perspectives and compares the findings in an integrative discussion. By providing a close analysis of therapeutic interaction at semantic, affective, embodied, and physiological levels, it offers a unique insight into the micro-dynamics of the therapeutic relationship. At the same time, it creates a dialogue between different research traditions and provides an empirical foundation for understanding change processes in psychotherapy. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgement.- 1. Moments of significance - Moments of meeting? Introduction to the Berlin Micro-Analysis Study Group at the International Psychoanalytic University.- 2. Unfolding scenes - Findings on psychodynamic relationality using Scenic-Narrative Microanalysis (SNMA).- 3. A questionnaire to identify emergent moments Evaluation of spontaneous feedback from patient and therapist.- 4. Mapping the emotional field: A GEVA-based analysis of implicit and explicit affect mentalization of Ms. N. s Psychotherapy Sessions.- 5. Psychotherapy as dance?.- 6. "Doing Ruptures" - An analysis of the characteristics of alliance ruptures in psychotherapy.- 7. Physiological data as additional information.- 8. Ms. N, her therapist, and the art of showing or hiding a wound an introduction.- 9. Session 1 (beginning of the therapy).- 10. Second Session Feeding a trial-interpretation .- 11. Session 74 comfortably left alone.- 12. Summary and general aspects on methods and results.- 13. A comment by the therapist on the results of the analyses of the three sessions.- 14. Structural underpinnings of moments of meeting and their multi-level interplay.- 15. Moment and movement a clarification of the difference and congruence of the clinical versus humanities approach to movement research in psychotherapy.- 16. The temporality of trauma. A psychoanalytic interpretation.- 17. Significant moments - Implications and outlook for clinical practice and research. Autorenportrait Andreas Hamburger (_1954), Prof. Dr. phil. Dipl.-Psych., psychoanalyst and training analyst (DPG, DPV, IPA), senior professor, International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin. Main research areas: Scenic-narrative microanalysis, film psychoanalysis, social trauma. Author of 200+ scientific papers; author, editor and co-editor of 40+ books and book series, co-editor of the journal Trauma Kultur Gesellschaft. Recent English books: A. Hamburger, C. Hancheva & V. Volkan (eds.), Social Trauma - An Interdisciplinary Textbook (Springer Nature, 2020); V. Pramataroff-Hamburger & A. Hamburger (eds.), From La Strada to The Hours - Suffering and Souvereign Women in the Movies (Springer, 2024); A. Hamburger, Film Psychoanalysis - Relational Approaches to Film Interpretation (Routledge, 2024), A. Hamburger (Ed.), Screening the Scars - The Cinematic (In)Visibility of Social Trauma (Karnac, 2024). W. Mertens & A. Hamburger (Eds.), Handbook of Basic Psychoanalytic Concepts (Routledge, forthcoming 2027). Karolin Blattmann, Dipl. Wi.-Ing., M.A., studied studied clinical psychology at IPU Berlin and industrial engineering in Halle, Grenoble and Dresden. Since 2021 she has been working as a Research Fellow at the IPU Berlin on her doctoral project (based at the University of Würzburg). She has also been in psychoanalytic training at the IfP Berlin since 2020. In her research, she investigates emergent moments and their potential for change in psychotherapies from an intersubjective perspective, among other things with the help of Scenic Narrative Microanalysis (SNMA). Veronika Barbara Heller (_1980), Dr. phil., studied Philosophy and History at Humboldt University of Berlin, completed with the First State Examination in 2011. PhD in Dance Studies at Freie Universität Berlin with a dissertation on Scenic memory of the Shoah (2022). Completed professional training in Dance and Expressive Therapy at Campus Naturalis Berlin (2014). Four-year certification program at EUROLAB e. V. Berlin to become a Certified Laban Movement Analyst (2019). Working as a freelance dance educator and lecturer in dance therapy since 2010. Research Fellow and Academic Staff Member at the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin (since 2015). From January 2025, practicing as a Dance and Movement Therapist in private practice. Research Interests: Embodiment, the interface of psychoanalysis and movement analysis. Jasmin Spiegel, PhD., clinical psychologist (Dr. phil., Dipl.-Psych.). Studied psychology at the Karl-Ruprechts-University in Heidelberg, received her PhD from LMU Munich on 'Countertransference and Social Trauma - A Microanalysis of Scenic Memory of the Shoah' in 2017. Between 2021-2025 postdoctoral fellow at the Martin Buber Society of Fellows at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 2026, she received her certification as a movement analyst and movement therapist in Laban Bartenieff Movement Studies at the ISMETA Whole Movement Programme. Next to her clinical work as a psychoanalyst in training (IPB Berlin), she is the author of publications in the fields of psychotherapy process research, trauma-related disorders, and interdisciplinary connections between psychoanalysis and movement analysis.