Two-Chair work in EFT treatment for self-criticism in a Spanish Sample: A Randomized-Controlled Trial

Abstract

Varios autores remarcan la centralidad de los procesos de autocrítica, aunque el tratamiento de estos procesos no ha sido estudiado extensivamente. En Españoa no ha habido tratamiento para estos procesos hasta la fecha, que sepamos. En este estudio se realiza un ensayo controlado con un tratamiento breve focalizado en la emoción, y un grupo control en lista de espera, con una muestra española. Un total de 24 participantes fueron asignados aleatoriamente a los grupos, y se daministraron los siguientes isntrumentos: eck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Steer, y Brown, 1996), Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation- Outcome Measure (CORE-OM; Feixas et al., 2012), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003), Interpersonal inventory (IIP-32; Salazar, Martí, Soriano, Beltan, & Adam, 2010) and Forms of Self-criticizing/Attacking and Self-reassuring Scale (FSCRS; Baião et al., 2015). Se encuentra evidencia de la eficacia del tratamiento focalizado en la emoción para reducir los síntomas de depresión. El cambio en otras medidas de resultado y su asociación con medidas de proceso es analizado y las implicaciones clínicas son relevantes .

Several authors (Kannan & Levitt, 2013; Shahar, B., Carlin, Engle, & Hegde, 2012; Shahar, 2015; Gilbert et al., 2004) have noted that research on self-criticism and its treatement is limited. To the best of our knowledge, there is no research on this area in Spain. Therefore, we present results from a Randomized-Controlled Trial, with a EFT brief treatment (up to 12 sessions) and a wait-list control group, in a Spanish sample. A total of 51 participants met inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were assessed through an interview based on the MINI (Ferrando, Bobes, Gibert, Soto, & Soto, 2000) since current mental disorder was an exclusion criterion. The inclusion criteria was scores above one standard deviation in the Forms of Self-criticizing/Attacking and Self-reassuring Scale (FSCRS; Baião, Gilbert, McEwan, & Carvalho, 2015). A total of 24 participants were randomized allocated on individual EFT therapy sessions (10-12 sessions), with a special emphasis on two chair-work. Sessions were recorded on video and 8% of the sessions were supervised by 2 expert trainers. Of all the participants, 21 completed all the sessions; three of them did not feel prepared to work deeper on their feelings. On the other hand, the control group (n=25) completed the outcome measures in the same sessions as the treatment group, as well as the 3-month follow-up. Outcome measures consisted of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Steer, y Brown, 1996), Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation- Outcome Measure (CORE-OM; Feixas et al., 2012), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003), Interpersonal inventory (IIP-32; Salazar, Martí, Soriano, Beltan, & Adam, 2010) and Forms of Self-criticizing/Attacking and Self-reassuring Scale (FSCRS; Baião et al., 2015). The significant interaction group x time on BDI scores (F(1,46)=10.6, p=0.002, eta=.19) support the efficacy of EFT in the context of self-critic treatment. Change in outcome measures and the association among process and outcome measures will be discussed.