TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of integrating emotion focused components into psychological therapy
T2 - A randomized controlled trial
AU - Caspar, Franz
AU - Berger, Thomas
AU - Holtforth, Martin grosse
AU - Babl, Anna
AU - Heer, Sara
AU - Lin, Mu
AU - Stähli, Annabarbara
AU - Gomez Penedo, Juan Martin
AU - Holstein, Dominique
AU - Egenolf, Yvonne
AU - Frischknecht, Eveline
AU - Krieger, Tobias
AU - Ramseyer, Fabian
AU - Regli, Daniel
AU - Schmied, Emma
AU - Flückiger, Christoph
AU - Brodbeck, Jeannette
AU - Greenberg, Les
AU - Carver, Charles S.
AU - Castonguay, Louis
AU - Kramer, Ueli
AU - Auszra, Lars
AU - Herrmann, Imke
AU - Belz, Martina
N1 - Funding Information:
It could be argued that each of the add‐ons has increased the effects compared to PT to the same extent, although in different ways. This would be plausible if the effect sizes of PT were considerably lower than for the two combinations in the current study. It would have been desirable to have a third experimental condition with pure PT. This was not feasible in terms of patient flow within the time funded by Swiss National Science Foundation. The effect sizes reported in grosse Holtforth et al. ( 2011 ) for PT are, however, of similar magnitude. Although these studies are not directly comparable in terms of patient and therapist selection as well as details of the procedure, the comparison speaks against the assumption that PT alone would have rendered much lower effect sizes than any of the Improve combinations.
Funding Information:
F. C. was P. I., T. B. and M. g. H. coapplicants, A. B. did all analyses supported by JMGP and wrote the methods and results sections of the manuscript. A. B., S. H., M. L. and A. S. worked with multiple tasks as assistants in the project. D. H., Y. E., E. F., T. K., F. R., D. R., and E. S. ran the clinic during the project and conducted intake interviews, C. F. and J. B. were involved in the ethics application, L. G., L. C., and U. K. were cooperation partners involved mainly in the planning and discussion, L. A., I. H., and M. B., in addition to L. G., did the E. F. T. training and were involved in the discussion. These were the main roles; several of these persons were involved in multiple roles. Our thanks go to all participating therapists and patients. Without their dedication and cooperation, the project would not have been possible. This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) under 100019_159425. Open access funding provided by Universitat Bern.
Funding Information:
F. C. was P. I., T. B. and M. g. H. coapplicants, A. B. did all analyses supported by JMGP and wrote the methods and results sections of the manuscript. A. B., S. H., M. L. and A. S. worked with multiple tasks as assistants in the project. D. H., Y. E., E. F., T. K., F. R., D. R., and E. S. ran the clinic during the project and conducted intake interviews, C. F. and J. B. were involved in the ethics application, L. G., L. C., and U. K. were cooperation partners involved mainly in the planning and discussion, L. A., I. H., and M. B., in addition to L. G., did the E. F. T. training and were involved in the discussion. These were the main roles; several of these persons were involved in multiple roles. Our thanks go to all participating therapists and patients. Without their dedication and cooperation, the project would not have been possible. This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) under 100019_159425. Open access funding provided by Universitat Bern.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2023/2
Y1 - 2023/2
N2 - Objectives: This paper presents a randomized controlled trial on assimilative integration, which is aimed at integrating elements from other orientations within one approach to enrich its conceptual and practical repertoire. Elements from Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) were integrated into a form of cognitive behavior therapy: Psychological Therapy (PT). In one treatment condition, EFT was added to PT (+EFT) with the intent to enhance therapists' working with emotions. In the other condition, concepts and interventions based on the socialpsychological self-regulation approach were added to PT (+SR). Our assumption was that the +EFT would lead to greater and deeper change, particularly in the follow-up assessments. Method: Patients (n = 104) with anxiety, depression, or adjustment disorders were randomized to the two conditions and treated by 38 therapists who self-selected between the conditions. Primary outcome was symptom severity at 12-month follow-up; secondary outcomes included several measures such as interpersonal problems and quality of life. Variables were assessed at baseline, after 8 and 16 sessions, at posttreatment, and at 6- and 12-month follow-up. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, no significant between-group effects were found. Conclusion: The findings first suggest the difficulty of topping an already very effective approach to psychotherapy. Alternative interpretations were that the EFT training, while corresponding to regular practice in AI, was not sufficient to make a difference in outcome, or that while profiting from the enhancement of abilities for working with emotions, this was outbalanced by negative effects of difficulties related to the implementation of the new elements.
AB - Objectives: This paper presents a randomized controlled trial on assimilative integration, which is aimed at integrating elements from other orientations within one approach to enrich its conceptual and practical repertoire. Elements from Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) were integrated into a form of cognitive behavior therapy: Psychological Therapy (PT). In one treatment condition, EFT was added to PT (+EFT) with the intent to enhance therapists' working with emotions. In the other condition, concepts and interventions based on the socialpsychological self-regulation approach were added to PT (+SR). Our assumption was that the +EFT would lead to greater and deeper change, particularly in the follow-up assessments. Method: Patients (n = 104) with anxiety, depression, or adjustment disorders were randomized to the two conditions and treated by 38 therapists who self-selected between the conditions. Primary outcome was symptom severity at 12-month follow-up; secondary outcomes included several measures such as interpersonal problems and quality of life. Variables were assessed at baseline, after 8 and 16 sessions, at posttreatment, and at 6- and 12-month follow-up. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, no significant between-group effects were found. Conclusion: The findings first suggest the difficulty of topping an already very effective approach to psychotherapy. Alternative interpretations were that the EFT training, while corresponding to regular practice in AI, was not sufficient to make a difference in outcome, or that while profiting from the enhancement of abilities for working with emotions, this was outbalanced by negative effects of difficulties related to the implementation of the new elements.
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U2 - 10.1002/jclp.23421
DO - 10.1002/jclp.23421
M3 - Article
C2 - 35988120
AN - SCOPUS:85136470801
SN - 0021-9762
VL - 79
SP - 296
EP - 315
JO - In Session - Psychotherapy in Practice
JF - In Session - Psychotherapy in Practice
IS - 2
ER -