The effects of adding emotion-focused interventions to the client-centered relationship conditions in the treatment of depression.

A study was conducted to test the effects of adding emotion-focused interventions to the empathic relationship. The authors compared client-centered therapy, which provides an empathic relationship based on the relational attitudes of empathy, positive regard, and congruence, and emotion-focused therapy (EFT), which integrates process-guiding emotion-focused interventions that focus on depressogenic affective-cognitive problems with a client-centered supportive relationship. Thirty-eight patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder were randomly assigned to 16 to 20 sessions of 1 of the 2 treatments. Clients' level of depressive symptoms, general symptom distress, interpersonal distress, and self-esteem improved in each condition, but improvement on symptomatology was superior in the EFT condition. An empathic relationship appears to be enhanced by the addition of specific emotion-focused interventions.