Research project Emotion-focused digital interventions for patients with medically unexplained symptoms
Functional somatic syndromes (e.g. irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia) and medically unexplained symptoms (e.g. chronic primary pain) are very common in primary care. These patients make 14 times more doctor visits than the general population, but describe themselves as less satisfied with the care they receive.
Previous research shows that very few patients actually feel that they are helped by the treatment they are offered.
Short-term psychodynamic therapies such as Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET; Schubiner & Lumley, 2019) and Intensive Short Term Psychodynamic Therapy (ISTDP) have recently been evaluated in three systematic reviews (Abbass et al., 2020, 2021, 2022) and show good results for patients with medically unexplained symptoms.
Short-term psychodynamic therapy considers that good treatment outcomes for patients with functional somatic syndromes can be achieved by increasing awareness of emotions and teaching patients to better experience, express and regulate emotions.
Purpose of the research project
The purpose of this project is to use a recently developed therapy form, psychodynamic short-term therapy (EAET and ISTDP) to clarify the effects of the treatment but also to contribute to information on how care flows for the patient group can be created. The project also aims to study how patients' own disease descriptions and capacity for emotional processing affect how they might benefit from treatment.
Project members
Project managers
Peter Lilliengren
Associate Professor
Daniel Maroti
Researcher
Members
Fredrik Falkenström
Professor
Malin Cecilia Ljungdahl
Project Coordinator
Mattias Rööst
Associate Professor