Emotional Arousal, Client Perceptual Processing, and the Working Alliance in Experiential Psychotherapy for Depression

• Published in: Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 2005-10, Vol.73 (5), p.861-871
• Main Authors: Missirlian, Tanya M, Toukmanian, Shaké G, Warwar, Serine H, Greenberg, Leslie S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Arousal; Arousal Patterns; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Processes; Conflict (Psychology); Depression; Depression (Psychology); Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - therapy; Emotional reponses; Emotional Response; Emotional States; Emotions; Experiential Learning; Experiential Psychotherapy; Expressed Emotion; Female; Human; Humans; Individual psychotherapy; Interpersonal Relations; Interview, Psychological; Major Depression; Male; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Ontario; Outcome and Process Assessment (Health Care); Outcomes of Treatment; Perception; Perceptions; Perceptual Development; Predictor Variables; Professional-Patient Relations; Psychological Patterns; Psychology, Clinical - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapies. Psychological and clinical counseling; Psychotherapy; Psychotherapy, Brief - methods; Regression Analysis; Self Concept; Self Esteem; Therapeutic Alliance; Therapeutic alliances; Therapist patient relationships; Treatment Outcomes; Treatments
• ISSN: 0022-006X; 1939-2117
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-006X.73.5.861

Early-, middle-, and late-phase client emotional arousal, perceptual processing strategies, and working alliance were examined in relation to treatment outcome on 4 measures in 32 clients who previously underwent experiential therapy for depression. Hierarchical regression analyses relating these variables to outcome indicated that results varied depending on the therapeutic process, phase of treatment, and outcome measure involved in the analyses. Mid-therapy arousal predicted improvements in self-esteem, whereas mid- and late treatment perceptual processing predicted reductions in client interpersonal dysfunction. Emotional arousal in conjunction with perceptual processing during mid-therapy predicted reductions in depressive and psychopathological symptomatology better than either of these variables alone. The implications of these findings for psychotherapy research and practice are discussed.