THERAPEUTIC USE OF VIDEOTAPE PLAYBACK

Videotape not only provides the possibility of recording an enormous amount of data during a therapy session, but also permits the participants to review this material immediately. The usefulness of such complete data for research is evident, but the integration of the videotape playback into the ongoing session itself also holds therapeutic promise. Recent theories have focused on the context, as well as on the communicational and interpersonal aspects of human behavior. The resulting emphasis on the here and now and the attention paid to the therapist-patient relationship find an especially clear definition in the videotape playback. Various techniques have been developed by several workers, and the future methods of use seem limited only by imagination and ingenuity. One of the most interesting consequences of the videotape playback technique is the encouragement of a more democratic and equalitarian therapeutic relationship. When both therapist and patient have equal access to the objective data of the therapy session, the traditional roles are challenged. The more mutual task of observing data and attempting to understand the interactions, as emotional reactions are now recalled during playback in relation to the incidents under review, promotes the development of a true research project. In this, the emphasis falls not only on the suffering of the patient, and the skill of the therapist, but also on the televised and now so evident humanness of them both.