Intrapersonal dynamics refer to the evolving patterns in an individual’s emotions, cognitions, and behaviors - including experiential, behavioral, and physiological components. Intrapersonal flexibility and self-regulation are considered central to resilience and linked to psychotherapy outcomes. While these constructs are often studied outside the therapy hour, we examine how they unfold in real time during sessions across multiple modalities - what is being said (verbal language), how it is being said (voice), and what the body conveys (facial expression, movement, physiology). 

For example, using automated facial-expression analysis of 283 video-recorded sessions (58 patients), we found that patients’ greater emotional variability was associated with lower depressive symptoms (Atzil-Slonim et al., 2023). Extending this work across channels, using facial expressions to reflect emotional valence and vocal tone to reflect arousal, we showed that higher multimodal intrapersonal affective flexibility predicted improved well-being (Paz et al., 2024). We also leverage physiology, providing an implicit measure of intrapersonal arousal and regulation. We found that greater in-session parasympathetic activity was associated with better therapeutic progress (Goren et al., 2025).

References:

Slonim, D. A., Yehezkel, I., Paz, A., Bar-Kalifa, E., Wolff, M., Dar, A., & Gilboa-Schechtman, E. (2024). Facing change: using automated facial expression analysis to examine emotional flexibility in the treatment of depression. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 51(4), 501-508.‏

Paz, A., Rafaeli, E., Bar-Kalifa, E., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Gannot, S., Narayanan, S. S., & Atzil-Slonim, D. (2024). Multimodal analysis of temporal affective variability within treatment for depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.‏

Goren, O., Paz, A., Bar-Kalifa, E., Gilboa-Schectman, E., Wolff, M., & Atzil-Slonim, D. (2025). Clients’ and therapists’ parasympathetic interpersonal and intrapersonal regulation dynamics during psychotherapy for depression. Psychotherapy Research, 35(5), 748-762.‏