Emotional Processing During Experiential Treatment of Depression.

Abstract

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. More important, emotional-processing skill significantly improved during treatment. Hierarchical regression models demonstrated that late emotional processing both mediated the relationship between clients' early emotional processing capacity and outcome and was the sole emotional-processing variable that independently predicted improvement. After controlling for emotional processing, the working alliance added an independent contribution to explaining improvement in reported symptomology only.

Emotion regulation in psychopathy

“…We focus our discussion on the implication of our emotion regulation data for the treatment of psychopathy. It is well documented that addressing deficits in emotion processing is important for a good therapy outcome (Pos et al, 2003;Whelton, 2004;Greenberg and Pascual Leone, 2006). Indeed, some of the latest treatments for psychopathy in the UK specifically target emotional regulation (Burns et al, 2011b;Murphy and McVey, 2010).…”

Emotion–focused therapy

“…From the experiential perspective, however, approach, arousal and tolerance of emotional experience is necessary but not sufficient. Optimum emotional processing involves in addition, the integration of cognition and affect (Greenberg, 2002;Greenberg & Pascual-Leone, 1995;Greenberg & Safran, 1987;Pos & Greenberg, 2003). Once contact with emotional experience is achieved, clients must also cognitively orient to that experience as information, and explore, reflect on, and make sense of it.…”

The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

“…13 Although the term "experiencing" derives from the humanistic therapy tradition, the phenomenon assessed by the scale-a trajectory of deepening self-exploration, leading to increased awareness of implicit or unconscious mental life-is the core defining feature of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy. Gagnon, 1998;Hayes & Strauss, 1998;Hilsenroth, Ackerman, Blagys, Baity, & Mooney, 2003;Høglend et al, 2008;Norcross, 2002;Pos, Greenberg, Goldman, & Korman, 2003;Vocisano et al, 2004).…”