Sleeper Effect

Treatment Effects

Experiential therapy (i.e., client-centered therapy [CC] and emotion-focused therapy [EFT]) is among many therapeutic techniques (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy) to treat major depressive disorder. Unlike its alternatives, experiential therapy focuses on empathic relationships, self-exploration, and the emotional experiences of a patient at a given moment. CC therapy focuses mainly on the relationship between the patient and the therapist. Through that relationship, patients learn to open up to the emotions they [Page 2016]experience. EFT uses this same technique but also includes interventions designed to help patients resolve affective–cognitive problems.

A study comparing CC therapy and EFT aimed to discover the long-term effects of experiential therapy. They interviewed patients 6, 12, and 18 months after their treatment to assess depressive symptoms. At 6 months posttreatment, there was no significant difference in the percentage of patients who relapsed between CC therapy and EFT (14.3% and 0%, respectively). However, at the 18-month follow-up, a significantly higher percentage of patients who received CC therapy had relapsed than patients who received EFT (52.4% and 22.7%, respectively). Similarly, they assessed patients’ mean cumulative well weeks, that is the number of weeks in succession in which patients experienced no or minimal depressive symptoms. At 6 months posttreatment, there was relatively no difference in the mean cumulative well weeks between CC therapy and EFT (23.05 and 24.0, respectively). At 18 months posttreatment, however, EFT displayed a significantly higher mean in cumulative well weeks (60.18) than did CC therapy (47.43).

These results displayed a sleeper effect between EFT and CC therapy; they were both similarly effective immediately following treatment, but EFT displayed better long-term results than CC therapy. In this case, the sleeper effect was evident in the patients who received CC therapy, and it affected them negatively because at 6 months it appeared that both CC therapy and EFT were effective in treating depressive symptoms, whereas at the later follow-up examinations displayed a latent negative effect of CC therapy in the form of relapse into depression. One implication of this example is the importance of continuing to examine patients who have received a treatment to determine whether there is a sleeper effect of the treatment. In some situations, the sleeper effect could positively affect patients, and in other situations like this one, it could negatively affect them. In either case, researchers should take note of the latent effects of a treatment for future studies and treatment purposes.

...