ABSTRACT
Standardized protocols or treatment manuals define the practice of psychotherapy from either a quantitative research-based behavioral model or symptom-focused medical model. A major premise of a relationship-oriented psychotherapy is that the need for relationship constitutes a primary motivation of human behavior. Attunement goes beyond empathy: it is a process of communion and unity of interpersonal contact. It is a two-part process that begins with empathy—being sensitive to and identifying with the other person’s sensations, needs, or feelings; and includes the communication of that sensitivity to the other person. Attunement is communicated by what is said as well as by the therapist’s facial or body movements that signal to the client that his affect and needs are perceived, are significant and make an impact on the therapist. Affective attunement begins with valuing the other person’s affect as an extremely important form of communication, being willing to be affectively aroused by the other person and responding with the reciprocal affect.
