Jeanne C. Watson

Experiential Therapy of Depression: Differential Effects of Client-Centered Relationship Conditions and Process Experiential Interventions

This study compared the effectiveness of process-experiential psychotherapy with one of its components, client-centered psychotherapy, in the treatment of (34) adults suffering from major depression. The client-centered treatment emphasized the establishment and maintenance of the Rogerian relationship conditions and empathic responding. The experiential treatment consisted of the client-centered conditions, plus the use of specific process-directive gestalt and experiential interventions at client markers indicating particular cognitive-affective problems. Treatments showed no difference in reducing depressive symptomatology at termination and six month follow-up. The experiential treatment, however, had superior effects at mid-treatment on depression and at termination on the total level of symptoms, self-esteem, and reduction of interpersonal problems. The addition, to the relational conditions, of specific active interventions at appropriate points in the treatment of depression appeared to hasten and...

Emotion-focused therapy for depression

ABSTRACT A review of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) of depression including a discussion of its evidence base is provided. EFT aims within an affectively attuned empathic relationship to access and transform habitual maladaptive emotional schematic memories that are seen as the source of the depression. These memories often involve feelings of the shame of worthlessness, anxious insecurity and the sadness of abandonment. Through the therapeutic process, adaptive emotions are accessed to transform maladaptive emotions and to organize the person for adaptive responses. This process of changing emotion with emotion is aided by the use of specific therapeutic techniques that help stimulate arousal of emotion and its processing.

An adjudicated hermeneutic single-case efficacy design study of experiential therapy for panic/phobia

Abstract This article illustrates the application of an adjudicated form of hermeneutic single-case efficacy design, a critical-reflective method for inferring change and therapeutic influence in single therapy cases. The client was a 61-year-old European-American male diagnosed with panic and bridge phobia. He was seen for 23 sessions of individual process-experiential/emotion-focused therapy. In this study, affirmative and skeptic teams of researchers developed opposing arguments regarding whether the client changed over therapy and whether therapy was responsible for these changes. Three judges representing different theoretical orientations then assessed data and arguments, rendering judgments in favor of the affirmative side. The authors discuss clinical implications and recommendations for future interpretive case study research.

The Canadian immigration experiences of Pakistani women: Dreams confront reality

This paper presents an account of the experience of South Asian women of Pakistani descent who have immigrated to Canada within the last year. The purpose of the study was to explore the quality of life and personal stresses and strains that follow immigration to a different culture. Seven immigrant women from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were interviewed about their experiences of immigrating with their families to Toronto. The interviews were then subjected to a qualitative analysis based on the principles of grounded theory. The findings outline the goals and expectations these immigrants hoped to achieve and highlight the losses, pains and hardships they went through in the pursuit of these goals. A four-stage model of the womens experience of immigration to Canada is presented.

Intraclass Correlation Associated with Therapists: Estimates and Applications in Planning Psychotherapy Research

It is essential that outcome research permit clear conclusions to be drawn about the efficacy of interventions. The common practice of nesting therapists within conditions can pose important methodological challenges that affect interpretation, particularly if the study is not powered to account for the nested design. An obstacle to the optimal design of these studies is the lack of data about the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), which measures the statistical dependencies introduced by nesting. To begin the development of a public database of ICC estimates, the authors investigated ICCs for a variety outcomes reported in 20 psychotherapy outcome studies. The magnitude of the 495 ICC estimates varied widely across measures and studies. The authors provide recommendations regarding how to select and aggregate ICC estimates for power calculations and show how researchers can use ICC estimates to choose the number of patients and therapists that will optimize power. Attention to these recommendations will strengthen the validity of inferences drawn from psychotherapy studies that nest therapists within conditions.

Humanistic psychotherapy research 1990–2015: From methodological innovation to evidence-supported treatment outcomes and beyond

Abstract Objective: Over the past 25 years, humanistic psychotherapy (HP) researchers have actively contributed to the development and implementation of innovative practice-informed research measures and coding systems. Method: Qualitative and quantitative research findings, including meta-analyses, support the identification of HP approaches as evidence-based treatments for a variety of psychological conditions. Results: Implications for future psychotherapy research, training, and practice are discussed in terms of addressing the persistent disjunction between significant HP research productivity and relatively low support for HP approaches in university-based clinical training programs, funding agencies, and government-supported clinical guidelines. Conclusion: Finally, specific recommendations are provided to further enhance and expand the impact of HP research for clinical training programs and the development of treatment guidelines.

Validation of Connectedness and Neediness as Dimensions of the Dependency Construct

This study (1) tested the 2-factor structure of the DEQ dependency scale (Neediness and Connectedness subscales) using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) in a student sample, adult community sample, and a clinical sample of patients with major depression; (2) assessed the discriminant validity of these 2 subscales by comparing their differences in clinical and nonclinical samples, and by examining their relation to depression severity; (3) examined differences between men and women on these factors; and (4) explored the pattern of correlations of these factors to the domains and facets of the 5-Factor Model of Personality (FFM). Neither the CFA nor the pattern of differences between the 3 samples and between the men and women provided strong support for the 2-factor model of dependency; nor was the expected association to severity of depression found. Only weak support of a 2-factor model emerged from the correlations of these constructs with the FFM.

Emotion-focused therapy for generalized anxiety.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a serious disorder that impairs functioning and has high social and economic costs (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; World Health Organization, 2016). Hoffman, Dukes, and Wittchen (2008) observed that GAD contributes to significant impairments in role functioning as well as decrements in quality of life. The impairment of persons with comorbid disorders is even more severe. For people with GAD, the condition negatively impacts their general health, including their physical and mental health, vitality, and social functioning, which leads to increased use of health care resources and loss of productivity due to absenteeism (Porensky et al., 2009; Revicki et al., 2012). It has been noted that the costs from health care and lost productivity exceed those of other patients. Moreover, there is the impact of intergenerational transmission, as people with GAD communicate and share their anxious worrying behavior with their offspring and other family members. INTRODUCTION

Emotion-focused therapy for eating disorders: enhancing emotional processing

Current literature highlights the importance of emotion in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Deficits in emotional processing skills in this population have been supported by numerous studies. The cycle of bingeing, purging, and starving are believed to be some of the maladaptive mechanisms of gaining control over inchoate affective experiences in clients with eating disorders. The first goal of this article is to present a review of the emotional processing characteristics and deficits in individuals with eating disorder who either engage in dietary restriction or binge-purge behaviors. Secondly, an emotion-focused therapy: the process-experiential approach is proposed as a suitable treatment to address these deficits. Specific emotion-focused interventions that address the ways clients learn to regulate their emotions are discussed along with the potential challenges of working with eating disorders. Suggestions for overcoming these challenges using an emotion-focused therapy are presented.

Alexithymia and Emotional Processing: A Mediation Model

OBJECTIVE Although alexithymia has been associated with difficulties in emotional regulation, both constructs are complex and this association remains unclear. This research attempts to study the relation between both constructs to identify better ways to guide clinical intervention. METHOD Emotion awareness, differentiation, and regulation were tested as mediators of the associations between alexithymia and severity of symptoms. The model was tested in a clinical (121 participants) and a nonclinical sample (188 participants). RESULTS Mediation effects were found in both samples with respect to different alexithymia factors, with the effects being higher in the clinical sample. CONCLUSION Emotional awareness and emotional differentiation mediate the relationship between alexithymia and emotion regulation. The similarities between samples suggest that emotional processing may be better thought of as being on a continuum. Being aware of the differential effect each alexithymia factor has on emotional processing may be helpful to guide intervention.