How and when immersion and distancing are useful in emotion focused therapy for depression

Eunice Barbosa,Sara Silva,José Pinto-Gouveia,João Salgado

doi:10.1080/10503307.2017.1411626

Eunice Barbosa, Sara Silva + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2017.1411626

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Journal: Psychotherapy Research	Publication Date: Dec 17, 2017
Citations: 6	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Porto, University of Coimbra

Abstract

Objective: The potential benefit or harm of immersion (egocentric perspective) and distancing (observer perspective) on negative experiences are unclear and have not been empirically investigated in therapy. This is a first exploratory study aimed to analyze and compare the perspectives adopted on reflection (immersion and distancing) of negative experiences across therapy and the relationship between them and depressive symptoms in contrasting therapeutic outcomes of emotion-focused therapy (EFT). Method: Three good-outcomes cases and three poor-outcomes cases of EFT, diagnosed with mild to moderate depression at the beginning of therapy, were randomly selected. Immersion and distancing on negative experiences were analyzed using the measure of immersed and distanced speech. The depressive symptoms were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Results: Significant differences across sessions were only found in the good-outcome cases which showed a significant decrease of immersion and an increase of distancing, and this evolution pattern was found related to the reduction of symptoms. Moreover, at the beginning of therapy, distancing was higher in the poor-outcome cases rather than in the good-outcome cases. Conclusion: The progressive and significant evolution from higher immersion at the initial phase to higher distancing in the final phase may be helpful in EFT for depression.

Highlights

This study suggests that at the beginning of therapy high immersion was common to both good- and poor-outcome cases, providing corroboration for the notion that depression is associated with an immersed perspective (Kross et al, 2012: Kross & Ayduk, 2009)
The good- and poor-outcome groups differed in terms of the frequency of immersion/distancing and the course of changes in their relative frequency during therapy
This difference was linked to significant changes in immersion/distancing during the course of effective emotion-focused therapy (EFT)

Summary

Empirical Findings on Immersion and Distancing

During immersion people reflect on the experience from a first-person perspective (“I think ...,” “I feel ...”), i.e., according to their own point of view. Distinguishing between different parts of the self promotes a more differentiated view of one’s internal dynamics, feeding an observer perspective on the original problem and alternative ways of construing the experience This more distanced perspective helps “clients and therapists define areas of inquiry that they can pursue in the session to increase understanding of client functioning and to explore alternatives” The aims were (a) to compare the frequency and evolution pattern of immersion and distancing in the two groups; (b) to analyze the relationship between changes in the frequency of immersion/distancing when reflecting on problematic experiences and changes in the scores of the depressive symptoms

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Discussion