Examining the role of therapists' empathy and clients' attachment styles on changes in clients' affect regulation and outcome in the treatment of depression.

Publisher: Routledge Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9110958 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1468-4381 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10503307 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Psychother Res Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2005- : London : Routledge
Original Publication: New York, NY, USA : Guilford Publications, [1991-

Emotional Regulation* ; Empathy* ; Object Attachment* ; Professional-Patient Relations* ; Psychotherapy*; Depression/*psychology ; Depression/*therapy; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Self Report ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective : The purpose of this study was to test whether changes in clients' affect regulation capacity (AR) mediated the impact of therapists' empathy on outcome and whether this relationship was stronger for more insecurely than securely attached clients. Method : The data set included 66 clients, who had participated in 16 weeks of either CBT or EFT for depression. Clients' AR was assessed using an observer and a self-report measure. Results: Changes in AR significantly mediated the relationship between therapists' empathy and outcome for depression, dysfunctional attitudes and self-esteem but not interpersonal problems, and changes in AR were moderated by clients' insecure attachment styles. Conclusions: The findings provide support for therapists' empathy as an active ingredient of change contributing to changes in clients' affect regulation capacities and emphasize the importance of assessing clients' attachment styles so that therapists can be more responsive and effectively tailor their treatments to fit the needs of individual clients.

Keywords: affect regulation; attachment; empathy; process research; psychotherapy outcome

Date Created: 20190915 Date Completed: 20210503 Latest Revision: 20210503

20231215

10.1080/10503307.2019.1658912

31519140