Expanding the Scope of the Role of Prosodic Features in Psychotherapy: A Commentary

Klapprott et al.’s (2024) scoping review provides a valuable examination of these prosodic features, by emphasizing their crucial role in shaping therapeutic interactions. The review synthesizes findings from 29 studies by focusing on several commonly investigated prosodic features of speech, including pitch, loudness, speech rate, and prosodic patterns. While the authors report evidence suggesting that prosodic features influence both the processes (e.g., building empathy) and the outcomes (e.g., reducing anxiety) of psychotherapy, they also note the inconsistent findings and methodological limitations plaguing the literature. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)