292-309

• Safran, Jeremy D.
• Belotserkovsky, Julia N.

Deficits in affect regulation skills play an important role in many forms of psychopathology.Affect regulation involves tolerating, moderating and making constructiveuse of a range of affective states, including those that are intensely painful or pleasurable,without needing to dissociate them. In this article, we discuss the role that the therapist'sability to regulate his or her own affective experience can play in helping patients to regulatetheir own affective experience. The therapeutic encounter involves an on ongoingprocess of mutual affective regulation between therapist and patients through which bothpartners influence each other's affective experience. Patients with affect regulation problemsare likely to evoke intense feelings in their therapist, and the therapist's ability to workconstructively with their own internal experience is an important therapeutic skill. Weexplore the role that both mindfulness practice and therapeutic metacommunication (i.e.,the process of collaboratively exploring what is taking place between therapist and patientin a reflective and nonjudgmental fashion) can play in facilitating the process of affectregulation in both therapist and patient.

• Psychology

• Affect (Psychology)
• Psychoanalysis

affect regulation, metacommunication, mindfulness, psychopathology

Περιέχει βιβλιογραφία, Special issue: Current issues in psychotherapy