The Formal Mode of the Science of Psychoanalysis: Studies of Two Patient/Therapist Systems

Five variables of material from two psychotherapies have been quantified and used to create time-series data. The sessions were compared on lagged relationships between the five variables for patient and therapist—a statistical technique believed to measure deep influence. Comparisons were also made for values for cyclical power, work and force, and entropy or complexity. These comparative studies extend our use of mathematical models and other techniques by the formal mode of the science of psychoanalysis—the quest for the deep laws of nature and for individual differences in how these laws are “obeyed”—into the realm of ongoing psychotherapy.