Does emotional processing predict 18-month post-therapy outcomes in the experiential treatment of major depression?

This study tested whether emotion-focused therapy's (EFT) emotion processing theory serves as a predictor of 18-month post-therapy outcomes for major depressive disorder (MDD), independent of experiential therapy received. We examined sequences of emotion episodes using the THEME™ sequential analysis of emotional processing in 55 clients who provided 18-month post-therapy Beck Depression Inventory reports after receiving experiential treatment in the York I and II trials, either emotion-focused or client-centered therapy. Archival Classification of Affective Meaning States (CAMS) ratings of emotion episodes of clients' working-phase sessions were analyzed using THEME™ sequential analyses of emotions coded during emotion episodes.

The role of pre-treatment interpersonal problems for in-session emotional processing and long-term outcome in emotion-focused psychotherapy.

Interpersonal problems may lead to, uphold, or follow from depression. However, we know little of how depressed patients' different interpersonal problems are associated with patients' emotional processing during psychotherapy and whether distinct processes are helpful for their long-term reduction. 23 adult outpatients who received emotion-focused therapies lasting 16-20 sessions filled the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems at pre- and post-treatment and 18-month follow-up.

A Model of Engagement Promotion in a Professionally Facilitated Online Intervention for Couples Affected by Breast Cancer.

Professionally facilitated web-based interventions for couples affected by an illness such as cancer are growing in popularity. Attrition rates for such online programs, however, are substantially higher than what is observed in face-to-face therapeutic contexts, and lower levels of participant engagement are associated with poorer outcomes. In the present investigation, a task analysis was employed to develop a model of engagement promotion in an online intervention for couples affected by breast cancer called "Couplelinks.

Emotional change process in resolving self-criticism during experiential treatment of depression.

Objective: This study tested emotion-focused therapy (EFT) theory assumptions concerning optimal emotion schematic processing during experiential psychotherapies. Emotion schematic change was investigated in the particular problem context of resolving self-criticism, an emotion schematic vulnerability to depression identified across all major psychotherapy theories.

Method: The sample was nine highly self-critical depressed clients who received experiential treatment (n = 5 resolved while n = 4 did not resolve their self-criticism by termination).

The impact of early empathy on alliance building, emotional processing, and outcome during experiential treatment of depression.

Objective: This study examined the relationships among the therapist process of expressed empathy during first sessions, clients' post-session one alliance reports, clients' later working phase emotional processing, and clients' final reductions in depressive symptoms for 30 clients receiving short-term experiential therapy for depression.

Method: The therapist process of expressed empathy was assessed using a new observer-rated measure: the measure of expressed empathy, which was demonstrated to be valid and reliable.

Results: Results indicate that therapist expressed empathy in session one significantly affected the outcome, albeit indirectly.

Interpersonal processes affecting early alliance formation in experiential therapy for depression.

This study examined the effects of in-session interpersonal process and pre-therapy interpersonal problems on session-one alliance formation for 32 clients who received short-term experiential therapy for depression. Interpersonal behavior measured by the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior, as well as clients' pre-therapy reports of interpersonal problems significantly related to session-one alliance scores. Greater client disclosure independently predicted a stronger session-one bond with the therapist.

Organizing awareness and increasing emotion regulation: revising chair work in emotion-focused therapy for borderline personality disorder.

Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) is an empirically supported treatment that may have potential as a stage-two treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Specific aspects of BPD--the tendency to experience fluctuating self-states; weakness in meta-cognitive or reflective functioning; and the tendency for self-states to be organized by presently occurring interpersonal processes--present challenges to applying some EFT interventions with this population. In particular, even within a highly attuned, validating and accepting empathic relationship, clients with BPD may have difficulty with the usual manualizations of chair work interventions.

Testing a model of change in the experiential treatment of depression.

In this study, we measured emotional processing and the alliance across 3 phases of therapy (beginning, working, and termination) for 74 clients who each received brief experiential psychotherapy for depression. Using path analysis, we proposed and tested a model of relationships between these 2 processes across phases of therapy and how these processes relate to predict improvement in the domains of depressive and general symptoms, self-esteem, and interpersonal problems after experiential treatment. Both therapy processes significantly increased across phases of therapy.

Advances in psychotherapy of personality disorders: a research update.

This article reviews psychotherapy studies published between 2003 and 2006 directed at psychotherapy for personality disorders (PDs). Over the past 3 years, there has been a substantial increase in these studies compared with previous decades. Psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and variants of these approaches have been evaluated and shown to have positive results.

Depth of emotional experience and outcome.

Abstract The relationship between theme-related depth of experiencing (EXP) and outcome was explored in experiential therapy with depressed clients. The study sought to investigate whether depth of EXP predicts outcome, whether change in depth of EXP over therapy predicts outcome, and how these factors compare with the therapeutic alliance as predictors of outcome. The sample consisted of 35 clients, each of whom received 16 to 20 weeks of therapy.

Emotional processing during experiential treatment of depression.

This study explored the importance of early and late emotional processing to change in depressive and general symptomology, self-esteem, and interpersonal problems for 34 clients who received 16-20 sessions of experiential treatment for depression. The independent contribution to outcome of the early working alliance was also explored. Early and late emotional processing predicted reductions in reported symptoms and gains in self-esteem.