Mimicry in Psychological Disorders and Psychotherapy
Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/Report › Chapter in book/Anthology/Report › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Mimicry plays an important role in social interactions. Problems in social interactions are both diagnostic criteria as well as risk factors of psychological disorders. An interesting hypothesis is that mimicry behavior of people with psychological disorders is different compared to people who are not suffering from a psychological disorder, and that this contributes to their problems in social interactions which in turn may worsen symptomatology and may have consequences for the therapeutic process. In this chapter we summarize existing studies on mimicry and akin phenomena in psychotherapy and related contexts (like counseling). As the evidence is sparse, we present four theoretical approaches to mimicry (the theory on perception-action-coupling, the embodiment theory, the social glue approach, and the social regulator theory), from which we derive ideas on how mimicry might affect different psychological disorders and the therapeutic process. Afterwards, we shortly recapitulate the evidence on mimicry in clinical populations. Most studies investigating clinical populations use video or picture stimuli, which might not be transferable to an interactional setting. Therefore, evidence on social mimicry needs to be broadened systematically in interactional psychotherapeutic settings with different clinical samples, as it could be an important source for clinical diagnosis and intervention in psychotherapy. In sum, mimicry seems to be a promising area for psychotherapy research and practice.
Details
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Automatic Imitation |
Editors | Oliver Genschow, Emiel Cracco |
Place of Publication | Cham |
Publisher | Springer Nature |
Chapter | 15 |
Pages | 309-331 |
Number of pages | 23 |
ISBN (electronic) | 978-3-031-62634-0 |
ISBN (print) | 978-3-031-62633-3 |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 12 Nov 2024 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |