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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Emotion Focused Therapy for Youth: Within-Session Sudden Gains
Mirisse Foroughe1,2, Serena Darking1, Alisa Torchia2
1Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.
Summary
Sudden gains (SGs), or rapid symptom improvements, can occur within a single session of Emotion Focused Therapy for Youth (EFT-Y). Both those experiencing SGs and those who don't show significant symptom improvement, highlighting EFT-Y's effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Background:
- Sudden gains (SGs) are linked to positive therapeutic outcomes.
- Experiential therapies, such as Emotion Focused Therapy for Youth (EFT-Y), facilitate SGs.
- The occurrence of within-session SGs in EFT-Y has not been previously studied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the occurrence of within-session SGs in youth undergoing EFT-Y.
- To examine the relationship between SGs and therapeutic outcomes in emotion regulation and depression symptoms.
- To assess the effectiveness of EFT-Y for young clients experiencing SGs.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a subsample of 22 youth (ages 9-17) from a prior randomized controlled trial of EFT-Y.
- Measurement of emotion regulation and depression symptoms at eight time points.
- Evaluation of within-session symptom shifts to identify SGs.
Main Results:
- Half of the participants experienced at least one SG in emotion regulation.
- 33% of participants experienced SGs in depression symptoms.
- All participants showed significant symptom improvement post-treatment, irrespective of SG status.
Conclusions:
- EFT-Y can produce rapid, within-session symptom improvements (SGs) in youth.
- Both SG-responders and non-SG-responders benefit from EFT-Y, indicating its overall efficacy.
- SGs may serve as indicators of critical moments in therapeutic change for young clients.
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