Introducing the Psychotherapy Attunement Scale

A promising new way to improve treatment outcomes is now available in CarePaths EHR.

Linguists who study conversations have developed a tool that measures what psychologists call therapeutic alliance. It compares the language of the speakers to determine how similar they are in the use of certain types of words or parts of speech — without considering the actual content of their conversation.

When the two parties speak similarly, as measured by this tool, they communicate more effectively:

• Linguistic similarity increases over the course of the conversation
• More linguistic similarity leads to better performance in problem-solving conversations
• Similarity is associated with better rapport in various settings, including psychotherapy

We’re calling this tool the Psychotherapy Attunement Scale and have added it to our MBC (measurement-based care) system.

How It Works

We automatically calculate the Psychotherapy Attunement Scale from therapy session transcripts and create a report in the patient’s chart. The report tracks therapeutic alliance over time and will also pinpoint places in the session where the alliance seems weak, so therapists can better understand possible disruptions.

If you are using AI notes, you’ll start seeing the session analysis reports right away.

We are eager to hear your feedback about this tool.

Reference: Schaper, R., Nowotny, C., Michalek, S., Schmidt, U., & Brockmeyer, T. (2022). Language style matching and treatment outcome in anorexia nervosa. European Eating Disorders Review, 30(5). https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.2943