In-session emotional expression predicts symptomatic and panic-specific reflective functioning improvements in panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy.

ABSTRACT: In panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy (PFPP), exploration and interpretation of avoided and conflicted emotions and fantasies surrounding anxiety are thought to promote panic-specific reflective functioning (PSRF), which drives panic disorder improvements. Patient emotional expression within a session may be a marker of engaged processing and experiencing of affectively charged material. Degree of in-session expressed emotion, indicating both verbal and nonverbal emotions, was examined across three early therapy sessions for prediction of subsequent outcomes. We further investigated whether personality disorder traits, theorized to relate to constricted (obsessive-compulsive) or heightened (borderline) emotions, moderated this relationship. Emotional expression in Sessions 2, 5, and

SUBMITTER: Keefe JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6745012 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature