ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness of a new, six-session emotion regulation group intervention designed for the secondary care setting: The Emotional Resources Group (ERG). METHOD: In this pilot study, participants were recruited by referral from secondary care mental health services. Forty-seven individuals participated in the study. Participants who attended the ERG were compared on measures of emotion regulation, well-being, and self-efficacy, pre- and post-intervention. RESULTS: Intent-to-treat analyses indicated highly statistically significant improvements in measures of emotion regulation, well-being, and self-efficacy, accompanied by large effect sizes. In addition, improvements in emotion regulation produced good rates of both reliable and clinically significant change. CONCLUSIONS: The ERG may be an effective, brief intervention to improve emotion regulation in the secondary care setting, worthy of further evaluation. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Clinical implications Emotion regulation may be an appropriate treatment target to improve well-being and self-efficacy in a transdiagnostic population. The ERG may be effective as a brief emotion regulation intervention for secondary care mental health settings. Outcomes of the ERG appear to be equivalent to other more intensive group-based emotion regulation interventions. The ERG's tailored design may be responsible for positive outcomes. Limitations There was a small sample size. There was no control group. There was no follow-up data.
Subject(s)
Emotions/physiology , Secondary Care/methods , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Pilot Projects , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Individuals who develop maladaptive coping styles after traumatic brain injury (TBI) usually experience difficulty expressing their emotional state, increasing the risk of psychological distress. Difficulties expressing emotion and identifying feelings are features of alexithymia, which is prevalent following TBI. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relations among coping styles, alexithymia, and psychological distress following TBI. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-one patients with TBI drawn from a head injury clinic population and 54 demographically matched healthy controls. MAIN MEASURES: Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, Estonian COPE-D Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Beck Anxiety Inventory. RESULTS: The participants with TBI exhibited significantly higher rates of alexithymia and psychological distress and lower levels of task-oriented coping than healthy controls. Levels of avoidance coping and psychological distress were significantly higher in a subgroup of TBI patients with alexithymia than in a non-alexithymic TBI subsample. There were significant relations among alexithymia, avoidance coping, and levels of psychological distress. Regression analysis revealed that difficulty identifying feelings was a significant predictor for psychological distress. CONCLUSION: Early screening for alexithymia following TBI might identify those most at risk of developing maladaptive coping mechanisms. This could assist in developing early rehabilitation interventions to reduce vulnerability to later psychological distress.