SNAP: A Multidimensional Tool for Psychotherapeutic Process Analysis – Development and Preliminary Validation

This paper introduces SNAP (Structure, Narrative, Activation, Process, Next), a multi-dimensional clinical reflection tool designed to support psychotherapists in systematically attending to phenomenological, relational, and process-oriented dimensions during therapeutic work. SNAP integrates Gestalt therapy's phenomenological foundations with complex systems theory and the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, com-prising 73 items organized across five dimensions: Structure, Narrative, Activation, Process, and Next. A preliminary validation study with 20 psychotherapists employed a retrospective pre-post design in which participants rated the utility of each SNAP item for clinical reflection before and after SNAP training. Results showed significantly higher perceived utility after training (T2: M = 6.69, SD = 0.54) compared to retrospective baseline (T1: M = 6.02, SD = 0.70), with mean increase of +0.67 points (Cohen's d = 0.29, p < 0.05 for 15/73 items). Greatest utility gains were observed in phenomenological dimensions: Next (d = 0.63), Activation (d = 0.51), Narrative (d = 0.45), and Process-Therapist (d = 0.43). Structural bio-psycho-social dimensions showed minimal gains (d = -0.02 to 0.15), sug-gesting these were already well-integrated in therapists' clinical thinking. Findings suggest SNAP enhances reflective capacity by systematically directing attention to phenomenological dimensions that are valued but inconsistently attended to. Further psychometric validation with larger samples is warranted.