Emotional Processing and Its Association to Somatic Symptom Change in Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy for Somatic Symptom Disorder: A Preliminary Mediation Investigation.
作者信息
Maroti Daniel, Ljótsson Brjánn, Lumley Mark A, Schubiner Howard, Hallberg Henrik, Olsson Per-Åke, Johansson Robert
机构信息
Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States.
出版信息
Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 7;12:712518. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712518. eCollection 2021.
The aim of this study was to investigate emotional processing as a potential mediator in therapist-guided, internet-based Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (I-EAET) for somatic symptom disorder, using data from a previously published pilot study. Participants ( = 52) engaged in a 9-week I-EAET treatment. Before treatment and each week during treatment (i.e., 10 weekly measurements), emotional processing was assessed with the Emotional Processing Scale-25 (EPS-25), which contains five subscales, and somatic symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15). Mediation analyses using linear mixed models showed that two EPS-25 subscales-Signs of Unprocessed Emotions and Impoverished Emotional Experience-were uniquely associated with somatic symptom reduction. The proportion of the mediated effect was 0.49, indicating that about half of the total association of the PHQ-15 with symptoms was accounted for by the two EPS-25 subscales. This preliminary mediation analysis suggests that improved emotional processing is associated with change in somatic symptoms in I-EAET. However, randomized controlled and comparison trials are needed to establish that I-EAET creates the change in emotional processing and that such changes are specific to I-EAET.