EXPECTIONS FOR CLIENT & THERAPIST
The program in which you are joining is called Emotion Regulation Therapy, or ERT for short. It’s a treatment we have developed over the past twenty years, and its efficacy has been shown now in five published clinical trials and at least two dozen other published studies that reflect the model of distress upon which ERT is built.
In this handout, we wish to describe the expectations and responsibilities to help give you a sense of what you can expect and what will be expected of you.
ERT is a manualized treatment, consisting of eight sessions, twice weekly, over four weeks. A manualized treatment means that the material to be discussed is planned out in advance. Likewise, the exercises that your therapist may give you to complete in the days between sessions are worked out in advance. We have developed ERT as a manualized treatment so that all the clients who enroll in the study get essentially the same treatment. The material in ERT has been selected for its relevance to anxiety and depression. All sessions are 60 minutes in duration.
Getting the most out of ERT. A manualized psychotherapy, in some ways, is like a course of antibiotics that a doctor might give you to fight an infection. As a doctor will tell you, it’s very important for you to take the medication as directed and until you have taken ALL the medication. Sometimes with antibiotics, we feel better almost immediately and are tempted to stop taking our medication. Other times, the antibiotic might make us feel worse or have side-effects, also tempting us to stop taking it. The important thing is to finish the medication so we get the full dose; otherwise, the infection might come back. The same ideas apply to a manualized treatment like ERT so that you get the full dose of our treatment and the best chance of overcoming your chronic anxiety and depression mood. So, keeping the idea of an antibiotic in mind, some of the expectations of clients in ERT include:
-
Regular attendance.
Your therapist will schedule two weekly meetings with you, and it is our hope that you will do your best to attend every session on a twice-weekly basis. -
Completion of between-session exercises.
ERT includes exercises that are meant to teach you new skills and ways to manage your emotional distress. Please do your best to complete these exercises, as the therapy is most effective when it becomes part of your daily life rather than solely part of our weekly meeting. -
Focus on problems related to emotional distress.
ERT is tailored to emotional distress, though we are aware that people sometimes have additional difficulties in their lives. We will consider those other difficulties as they come up and make clinically responsible choices about your care; but for the most part, we will need to keep our focus on emotional distress.
Regular attendance.
Completion of between-session exercises.
Focus on problems related to emotional distress
-
Background of your therapist.
Your ERT therapist is a PhD psychologist or a PhD candidate in clinical psychology who has a background in treating anxiety disorders and has received specialized training with the authors of ERT. Your therapist is also receiving regular supervision with the authors of ERT about your care and progress in the therapy. -
Covering all the material.
Each session, your therapist has a a lot of material to cover. So, at times, she or he may need to move on from a discussion so that all the scheduled material gets covered.