2003/01/01 by Jeanne C. Watson, Laurel B. Gordon, Lana Stermac +2 · 5 citations
Psychology · Medicine · #Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications #Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics #Personality Disorders and Psychopathology #Psychology #Psychotherapist #Cognitive therapy #Dysfunctional family #Clinical psychology #Distress #Cognitive behavioral therapy #Randomized controlled trial #Cognition #Interpersonal psychotherapy #Coping (psychology) #Group psychotherapy #Experiential learning #Brief psychotherapy #Experiential avoidance #Anxiety #Psychiatry #Medicine
paper · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.71.4.773
openalex publication_date 2003/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
This study compared process-experiential and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy in the treatment of major depression in a researcher allegiance-balanced randomized clinical trial. Sixty-six clients participated in weekly sessions of psychotherapy for 16 weeks. Clients' level of depression, self-esteem, general symptom distress, and dysfunctional attitudes significantly improved in both therapy groups. Clients in both groups showed significantly lower levels of reactive and suppressive coping strategies and higher reflective coping at the end of treatment. Although outcomes were generally equivalent for the 2 treatments, there was a significantly greater decrease in clients' self-reports of their interpersonal problems in process-experiential than cognitive-behavioral therapy.