Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Ferreira, Laura Inês
Data de Publicação: 2022
Outros Autores: Janeiro, Luís
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/17964
Resumo: Psychodynamic-oriented psychotherapies have demonstrated their efficacy in emotional disorders' treatment. However, it remains unclear what are the specific mechanisms accounting for change. In psychodynamic psychotherapeutic models as the Affect Phobia Therapy (APT), emphasis is placed on therapeutic relationship and the ability of clients to regain adaptive contact with their emotions. Specifically, it is argued that there must be a high therapeutic alliance for the emotions' exposure to lead to positive outcomes. This exploratory study aimed to examine whether the level of therapeutic alliance (high vs. low) moderates the contribution of emotional experience to outcomes. Twenty-six clients (65% females; Mage= 25; SD= 7.26) with depressive and/or anxiety symptoms undergoing a psychodynamic psychotherapy on a university counselling centre were included. After each weekly session, clients answered measures of therapeutic alliance, emotional experience, and outcomes (Psychological Well-Being and Subjective Discomfort). Data were analysed using Hierarchical Linear Models for longitudinal data. Results indicated that effect of emotional experience on outcomes depends on levels of therapeutic alliance. In clients with low therapeutic alliance, higher levels of emotional experience contributed to a decrease in Psychological Well-Being and an increase in Subjective Discomfort across sessions. In clients with higher levels of alliance, both outcomes decreased significantly between sessions, regardless of the emotional experience effect. Our findings highlight that it is important to consider that exposure to adaptive emotions may have adverse effects when a strong alliance is not established.
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spelling Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomesPsychodynamic therapyTherapeutic allianceEmotional experienceModeratorChange mechanismsPsychodynamic-oriented psychotherapies have demonstrated their efficacy in emotional disorders' treatment. However, it remains unclear what are the specific mechanisms accounting for change. In psychodynamic psychotherapeutic models as the Affect Phobia Therapy (APT), emphasis is placed on therapeutic relationship and the ability of clients to regain adaptive contact with their emotions. Specifically, it is argued that there must be a high therapeutic alliance for the emotions' exposure to lead to positive outcomes. This exploratory study aimed to examine whether the level of therapeutic alliance (high vs. low) moderates the contribution of emotional experience to outcomes. Twenty-six clients (65% females; Mage= 25; SD= 7.26) with depressive and/or anxiety symptoms undergoing a psychodynamic psychotherapy on a university counselling centre were included. After each weekly session, clients answered measures of therapeutic alliance, emotional experience, and outcomes (Psychological Well-Being and Subjective Discomfort). Data were analysed using Hierarchical Linear Models for longitudinal data. Results indicated that effect of emotional experience on outcomes depends on levels of therapeutic alliance. In clients with low therapeutic alliance, higher levels of emotional experience contributed to a decrease in Psychological Well-Being and an increase in Subjective Discomfort across sessions. In clients with higher levels of alliance, both outcomes decreased significantly between sessions, regardless of the emotional experience effect. Our findings highlight that it is important to consider that exposure to adaptive emotions may have adverse effects when a strong alliance is not established.AACSapientiaFerreira, Laura InêsJaneiro, Luís2022-07-12T10:08:29Z2022-032022-03-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/17964eng1989-2780info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-03-06T02:03:09Zoai:sapientia.ualg.pt:10400.1/17964Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T20:07:48.573707Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
title Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
spellingShingle Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
Ferreira, Laura Inês
Psychodynamic therapy
Therapeutic alliance
Emotional experience
Moderator
Change mechanisms
title_short Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
title_full Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
title_fullStr Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
title_full_unstemmed Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
title_sort Treating affect phobias: Therapeutic alliance as a moderator of the emotional experience effect on outcomes
author Ferreira, Laura Inês
author_facet Ferreira, Laura Inês
Janeiro, Luís
author_role author
author2 Janeiro, Luís
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Sapientia
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Ferreira, Laura Inês
Janeiro, Luís
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Psychodynamic therapy
Therapeutic alliance
Emotional experience
Moderator
Change mechanisms
topic Psychodynamic therapy
Therapeutic alliance
Emotional experience
Moderator
Change mechanisms
description Psychodynamic-oriented psychotherapies have demonstrated their efficacy in emotional disorders' treatment. However, it remains unclear what are the specific mechanisms accounting for change. In psychodynamic psychotherapeutic models as the Affect Phobia Therapy (APT), emphasis is placed on therapeutic relationship and the ability of clients to regain adaptive contact with their emotions. Specifically, it is argued that there must be a high therapeutic alliance for the emotions' exposure to lead to positive outcomes. This exploratory study aimed to examine whether the level of therapeutic alliance (high vs. low) moderates the contribution of emotional experience to outcomes. Twenty-six clients (65% females; Mage= 25; SD= 7.26) with depressive and/or anxiety symptoms undergoing a psychodynamic psychotherapy on a university counselling centre were included. After each weekly session, clients answered measures of therapeutic alliance, emotional experience, and outcomes (Psychological Well-Being and Subjective Discomfort). Data were analysed using Hierarchical Linear Models for longitudinal data. Results indicated that effect of emotional experience on outcomes depends on levels of therapeutic alliance. In clients with low therapeutic alliance, higher levels of emotional experience contributed to a decrease in Psychological Well-Being and an increase in Subjective Discomfort across sessions. In clients with higher levels of alliance, both outcomes decreased significantly between sessions, regardless of the emotional experience effect. Our findings highlight that it is important to consider that exposure to adaptive emotions may have adverse effects when a strong alliance is not established.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022-07-12T10:08:29Z
2022-03
2022-03-01T00:00:00Z
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