@article{635f9583390749788a5c5a41a38504c4,
title = "A double-blind study of empathic support and expectation as mechanisms of symptom change",
abstract = "Objective: A novel brief intervention was used to investigate how empathic support and expectation can induce changes in mood, anxiety, and perceived stress. Method: Seventy-six undergraduates with high negative affect were assigned to three conditions of a program involving tasks with no known therapeutic benefit. In Group 1: Expectation Only, participants were given a deceptive description of the benefits of the program to quantify the magnitude of symptom change due to expectation alone. In Group 2: Empathic Support + Expectation, participants were also instructed to write about past and current sources of distress and provided with supportive notes each week to quantify the role of empathic support plus expectation. In Group 3: Control, participants were told they were “norming” the instruments. Results: Participants in Groups 1 and 2 demonstrated decreases in depression, anxiety, and rumination, with significant medium effect reductions found in the empathic support plus expectation condition. Conclusions: Evidence suggests that empathic support and expectation cause reduction of symptoms spanning depression and anxiety.",
keywords = "empathy, expectations, mechanism of change, placebo, psychotherapy",
author = "J.G. Thomas and P.B. Sharp and M.A. Niznikiewicz and W. Heller",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Wendy Heller and Nicole Allen for their funding of this study, Rebecca Stilton for use of the Neurosky headsets, and Brad Sutton for research space at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. We also thank Mark Aber and Bruce Wampold for their consultation regarding the study design. Finally, we are grateful for lab manager Jayne Clinkenbeard and all of the undergraduate research assistants who implemented the training program: Anusha Adkoli, Hallie Aylesworth, Adi Bates, Samuel Bellows, Alexandria Cooke, Tiffany Deakin, Annalea Forrest, Sara Groth, Delilah Hansen, Cali Joyce, Alexus Lee, Connor Leef, Theodore Moore, Anna Nelson, Anjali Patel, Kristen Pluta, Aleetra Roberts, Meridian Ruby, Devan Sadowski-Sanders, Joshua Salinas, Kevin Soto, Jessica Verandah, and Gong Yi. J. G. Thomas came up with the original study design and wrote most sections of the paper. P. B. Sharp assisted with the final study design and wrote the results with J. G. Thomas. W. Heller assisted with the editing of the manuscript and the implementation of the study. J. G. Thomas, P. B. Sharp, M. A. Niznikiewicz, and W. Heller contributed to the collection of data. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Society for Psychotherapy Research.",
year = "2022",
doi = "10.1080/10503307.2021.1909770",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "32",
pages = "128--138",
journal = "Psychotherapy Research",
issn = "1050-3307",
publisher = "Routledge",
number = "1",
}