| Course | NU672 PMHNP Psychotherapy for Individuals, Groups, and Families Clinical |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Process recording |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU672 Unit 2
The Sister She Stopped Calling: A Process Recording of Session Four of Interpersonal Psychotherapy With a 34-Year-Old Exhibit Designer After a Cross-Country Move
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU672: PMHNP Psychotherapy for Individuals, Groups, and Families Clinical
Unit 2 Process Recording
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The client is composite; dialogue is reconstructed from a recording and details are bracketed.
Context
Ms. [E.] is a [34]-year-old museum exhibit designer who moved from [Philadelphia] to [Phoenix] [seven] months ago when her husband accepted a hospital position. She has not found work in her field and is doing freelance design from home. She has major depressive disorder, moderate. In the first three sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy we agreed that her problem area is a role transition: from an employed designer with close family nearby to a spouse at home in a city where she knows no one. The model behind the treatment ties a depressive episode to what is happening in the client's relationships now, chooses one problem area to focus on, and works on it within a fixed number of sessions (Weissman et al., 2017).
Session four took place at [14:00] on [a Tuesday]. The goal I set before the session was to explore what she had lost in the transition and what the new role might offer.
The Exchanges
Exchange 1. Client: "I had a good week, sort of. I finished a logo for a dentist. It's not what I do, but it paid." Student: "You finished a project. How did that feel?" Analysis: A reasonable opening. I reflected her accomplishment and invited feeling. I missed the "not what I do," which named the loss of her professional identity, the core of the role transition.
Exchange 2. Client: "Fine. It felt like work. I used to design whole galleries." Student: "You miss the bigger projects." Analysis: Here I caught the loss, and the reflection was accurate. She nodded and looked away.
Exchange 3. Client: "I miss a lot of things. My sister keeps calling. I don't pick up anymore." Student: "How has your sleep been this week?" Analysis: This was the hinge of the session, and I moved away from it. She offered, without prompting, an interpersonal change directly relevant to her problem area: she is withdrawing from the person who could help her most. I changed the subject to a symptom. On the recording there is a pause of about [two] seconds before my question, and I remember feeling uncomfortable. I think I sensed sadness and moved toward something I knew how to ask about.
The most important sentence in the session was one I did not follow, and the reason I did not follow it was my own discomfort, not a clinical judgment.
Exchange 4. Client: "Bad. I wake up at four and just lie there." Student: "That sounds exhausting. What goes through your mind at four?" Analysis: This question partly recovered the session, since her answer led back toward her feelings. But the direction came from sleep, not from her sister.
Exchange 5. Client: "That I made a mistake coming here. That I gave up everything for his job and I don't even have my sister anymore." Student: "You gave up a lot. Tell me about your sister." Analysis: Here I returned to the sister, prompted by her own words. In interpersonal psychotherapy, exploring the relationships affected by the transition is part of the work, and this was the right move. I wish I had made it at exchange 3.
Exchange 6. Client: "She's two years older. We talked every day. Now when she calls I feel like I have to pretend I'm fine, and I can't, so I don't answer." Student: "So not answering protects her from seeing how you really feel." Analysis: An interpretation that she accepted. It linked her withdrawal to her depression rather than to a lack of love for her sister. Empathic responses of this kind are associated with better outcomes across therapies; a meta-analysis found a mean correlation of about [0.28] between therapist empathy and client outcome (Elliott et al., 2018).
Exchange 7. Client: "Or protects me. I don't know." Student: "Maybe both. What would it be like to call her and not pretend?" Analysis: This opened a possible task for the coming week. She agreed to call her sister once and tell her that she has been struggling.
Nonverbal and Process Observations
Watching the recording without sound showed things the transcript did not. Ms. [E.] sat forward and spoke quickly in exchanges 1 and 2, when the topic was work. At exchange 3 she looked down and her voice dropped; she was already moving into sadness before I changed the subject. After my sleep question she sat back and her answer was flatter. At exchange 5 she became tearful for the first time in four sessions, and at exchange 6 she made eye contact while describing her sister. My own posture changed as well: at exchange 3 I glanced at my notes, which I now think was part of the same retreat as the sleep question. The process lesson is that her affect gave clear signals about where the important material was, and that my nonverbal behavior followed my discomfort before my words did. In supervision I would like to watch this segment with my supervisor and practice staying still and quiet for a few seconds when a client drops her voice.
Summary of the Analysis
Across the session I used reflection and empathy well when I followed her lead. My main error was at exchange 3, where I moved from an interpersonal disclosure to a symptom question. The pattern matters because interpersonal psychotherapy relies on the therapist staying with the client's relationships, and because I made the same move in session two, when she mentioned her husband working late.
What I Will Do Differently
1. When a client names a person in a relationship affected by the problem area, I will follow that person first, before returning to symptoms.
2. I will review my recordings for pauses before topic changes, since in this session the pause marked my discomfort.
3. I will bring the pattern to supervision and ask for help staying with sadness in the room.
4. In session five I will begin by asking about the call to her sister.
Interpersonal psychotherapy has a strong evidence base for depression; a meta-analysis found it clearly effective compared with control conditions and comparable to other psychotherapies (Cuijpers et al., 2011). Its effect depends, however, on the therapist working within the chosen problem area, which I did only partly in this session.
References
Cuijpers, P., Geraedts, A. S., van Oppen, P., Andersson, G., Markowitz, J. C., & van Straten, A. (2011). Interpersonal psychotherapy for depression: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(6), 581-592. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.10101411
Elliott, R., Bohart, A. C., Watson, J. C., & Murphy, D. (2018). Therapist empathy and client outcome: An updated meta-analysis. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 399-410. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000175
Weissman, M. M., Markowitz, J. C., & Klerman, G. L. (2017). The guide to interpersonal psychotherapy (Updated and expanded ed.). Oxford University Press.
Reading the NU 672 Unit 2 instructions
Unit 2 asks for a process recording of one of your own therapy sessions: a segment of dialogue reconstructed from the recording, with your analysis of each exchange. Prompts usually want context, the therapy model and goal for the session, the dialogue itself, analysis of what you did and why, nonverbal observations, and alternative responses where you would change something. Recordings typically cover five to ten exchanges. Graders reward honest analysis of missed opportunities, especially when you can say what you felt in the moment. Linking each exchange to the therapy model shows you understand what the session was meant to accomplish. De-identify everything and follow your site's rules on recordings.
How this NU672 Unit 2 example is built
A context section describes the client, her move, the diagnosis and the role transition agreed in earlier sessions, with the model defined from the Weissman guide. Seven exchanges follow, each with the client's words, the student's response and an analysis. Exchange three is flagged as the hinge, with a highlighted sentence naming the student's discomfort as the reason for the missed opening. Later exchanges show the student returning to the sister and an interpretation citing the empathy meta-analysis. A nonverbal section describes posture, voice and eye contact on both sides. A summary names the pattern across sessions, four changes follow, and the IPT meta-analysis closes the analysis.
NU672 Unit 2 rubric: what earns full points
Instructors tend to mark process recordings on how faithful the account is, and on depth of self-analysis, use of the therapy model, attention to nonverbal process and a plan for change. Accuracy rewards dialogue that could be checked against the recording. Self-analysis earns full points when the writer names what they felt and how it shaped a response. The model row asks whether every exchange is read against what the therapy is trying to do, such as working within a problem area. Nonverbal points go to specific observations of both client and student. The plan should name concrete changes for the next session rather than general resolutions about listening more.
NU672 Unit 2 help: mistakes that cost points
The most common problem is presenting a flattering segment, which leaves little to analyze. Another is analyzing only the client and never the student's own choices. Students often miss the hinge of a session because they review only what they said, not what the client offered. Some recordings list feelings without linking them to specific responses. Others ignore the therapy model and analyze exchanges as general conversation. Many forget nonverbal behavior, which often shows a turning point before the words do. And an action plan that says "be more empathic" cannot be checked in the next recording, so name the exact moment you will handle differently. Keep the dialogue short enough that the analysis, not the transcript, carries the page.
Get an NU672 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Send your NU672 section's recording template, its column headings especially, along with the treatment model you are practicing and the rubric. A free first sample comes back in 24-48h, built around an invented client, with an excerpt chosen for its turning point and analysis written in the model's own terms. Your own session material stays with you. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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NU672 Unit 2 questions, answered
Should the process recording use a real session transcript?
Your submitted recording will draw on your own session, de-identified under the site's and the course's rules, and that material is yours alone. A sample is built on a composite client so it can show the format without exposing anyone. What transfers from it is the discipline of the columns: dialogue in one place, feeling in another, judgment in a third.
What goes in the nonverbal column?
Observable behavior only: posture shifts, pauses with their length, tears, a glance at the clock, changes of tone. Interpretation belongs in the analysis column. A note that she looked away for about four seconds before answering is data; a note that she was ashamed is a hypothesis, and keeping the two apart lets a supervisor test the hypothesis against what was seen.
How many alternative responses should the recording offer?
One for each moment worth changing, which is rarely every line. Alternatives on routine exchanges add length without insight. Graders look for alternatives at the points where the session could have turned, written as words the student could actually say, and consistent with the model being practiced rather than borrowed from a different therapy.
Where can I find a free NU672 Unit 2 sample paper?
This page holds the full NU672 Unit 2 process recording, with the context, seven analyzed exchanges, nonverbal observations, a summary and four changes for the next session, plus three references. A recording analysis built on your own session notes can be requested.
What was the missed opportunity in NU672 Unit 2?
At exchange three the client said she no longer answers her sister's calls, an interpersonal change central to her role transition, and the student asked about sleep instead. The student returned to the sister two exchanges later, prompted by the client.