Client-counselor behavioral and inter-brain synchronization among dismissing and secure clients and its association with alliance quality and outcome

Objective This study aimed to explore whether behavioral synchrony (BS) and inter-brain synchrony (IBS) could serve as potential biomarkers for alliance quality or outcomes among clients with different adult attachment styles. Method: We assessed the clients’ self-report working alliance and clinical outcomes as well as simultaneously measured BS using motion energy analysis (MEA) and IBS with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) among 37 secure (N = 21) or dismissing (N = 16) clients with their counselors during the first psychological counseling meeting. Results: Dismissing dyads manifested significantly higher late-stage counselor-led and client-led IBS (p =.018) than secure dyads. Adult attachment style served as the moderators in the correlation of both whole-stage client-led BS with bond dimension of alliance (p =.015) as well as in the correlation of both whole-stage no-lag IBS with CORE-10 score changes (p =.022). Moreover, increases in the whole-stage client-led BS were significantly associated with decreases in early-stage, late-stage and whole-stage no-lag IBS (all ps ≤ 0.01). Conclusion: These findings revealed the potentially impeding role of interpersonal synchrony in alliance quality for dismissing clients, at least during the first psychological counseling meetings. They also might partially validate the relationship between different modalities of interpersonal synchrony.