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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1505318

Internet-delivered emotional awareness and expression therapy for somatic symptom disorder: One year follow-up

Provisionally accepted
Henrik Hallberg Henrik Hallberg 1Daniel Maroti Daniel Maroti 1*Mark Lumley Mark Lumley 2Robert Johansson Robert Johansson 1
  • 1 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 2 Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: We examined whether the treatment effects from a previous RCT of Internetdelivered Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (I-EAET) for somatic symptom disorder were maintained 12 months after treatment.Method: 12-month assessments of self-reported somatic symptoms, pain severity, and several secondary outcomes were compared with baseline and post-treatment levels within the I-EAET condition only, given that the waitlist control condition had already received treatment. Twentyeight out of the original 37 participants (76%) in the I-EAET condition provided follow-up data.The beneficial effects of I-EAET on somatic symptoms observed at post-treatment were maintained at the 12-month follow-up (d = -0.22, 95% CI: -0.72 to 0.28), as well as for pain intensity (d = -0.02, 95% CI: -0.52 to 0.48). From pre-treatment to 12-month follow-up, there was a medium effect on somatic symptoms (d = 0.74, 95% CI 0.23 to 1.24), and a small, non-significant effect for pain intensity (d = 0.43, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.93). Response rates (at least 50% symptom reduction) at 12-month follow-up were 25% for somatic symptoms, and 12% for pain intensity.Conclusion: I-EAET seems to have positive long-term effects for somatic symptom disorder.Larger studies with controls and comparisons to other treatments are needed.

    Keywords: somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRDs), Functional somatic disorder (FSD), emotional awareness and expression therapy, Internet delivered psychological treatments, Guided Self Help

    Received: 02 Oct 2024; Accepted: 05 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hallberg, Maroti, Lumley and Johansson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Daniel Maroti, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.