| Abstract: |
Emotion regulation therapy (ERT) may be particularly suited for treating caregivers, as it was developed to target perseverative negative thinking (PNT) among individuals with comorbid anxiety and depression. Incorporating principles from CBT and experiential therapy with findings from affective science, ERT is an integrated, mechanism-focused intervention. ERT provides clinicians with a framework to address caregiver-specific challenges. Accordingly, the chapter reviews the ERT model and its mechanistic components with examples from caregiver contexts. Emotion regulation therapy for cancer caregivers (ERT-C) was well tolerated by 22 treatment completers. Caregivers demonstrated reduced depression and anxiety symptoms, PNT, and emotion regulation deficits with moderate-to-large effect sizes, as indicated by self-report measures and feedback from exit interviews. Although caregiver burden was not reduced, caregivers expressed greater ability to confront caregiving-related challenges in exit interviews. Given the documented difficulties in treating caregivers, these results are promising. Currently, a randomized controlled trial with a wait-list control group is in its final stage, and another one is planned. The latter will compare ERT-C to supportive psychotherapy and examine PNT as well as its psychoneuroimmunologic correlates. These trials provide encouraging preliminary efficacy of ERT-C while exploring potential moderators (e.g., caregiver characteristics) and mediators (e.g., emotion regulation skills). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) |
