The role of positive emotions in accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy

Objective: Contemporary theories suggest that positive emotions play an important role in psychotherapy. The present study examined the role of positive emotions in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), a psychotherapy approach designed to process positive emotions. Method: Forty-six patients, with a wide variety of psychological difficulties, participated in a 16-session course of AEDP in a naturalistic study. Following each session, participants reported the extent to which they experienced positive and negative emotions during the session, their perceived quality of the session, and their levels of functioning during the previous week. They also completed outcome measures before, at the end, and at 6-month follow-up. Results: Using multi-level and cross-lagged panel models, the results showed that positive emotions were associated with better session outcomes and better functioning during the following week, independent of negative emotions. Positive emotions during the entire treatment predicted improvements in depressive symptoms and interpersonal functioning but not general distress as measured directly post-treatment. However, these latter associations were nonsignificant at the 6-month follow-up. Conclusion: These findings provide initial evidence supporting the notion that positive emotions may be an important ingredient in psychotherapy and highlight the importance of developing interventions designed to facilitate the processing of positive emotions.