Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome
Published on: July 31, 2016
A quest for self-soothing: A systematic case study into emotion-focused therapy with an emotionally avoidant client
Ellen Gunst1, Jeanne Watson2, Jochem Willemsen3
1FIDES, Psychiatric Center Sint-Amandus, Beernem, and University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
Objective:
The current study is part of a multiple case study that investigated the emotional change in individuals who have committed sexual offenses (ISOs). This case study highlights how one client used sex as a maladaptive coping strategy to suppress negative emotions.
Method:
A mixed-methods design was used to track changes in the client's affect regulation (AR) during four phases, including a baseline (Phase A), treatment as usual (Phase B), treatment with an emotion-focused therapy (EFT) component added (Phase C), and follow up (Phase A).
Results:
The qualitative description with verbatim clinical vignettes, revealed deeper insight into some important steps and hindrances and the impact of specific EFT-interventions. Quantitative analysis of self-report and observational measures showed a significant improvement in the client's AR across different phases of treatment.
Conclusions:
The study improves our knowledge of the emotional change in ISOs during treatment and illustrates some key interventions, steps, and hindrances.
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