Emotion Focused Therapy for Youth: Within-Session Sudden Gains

Objective: Research has found an association between sudden gains (SGs), known as rapid symptom improvements, and positive therapeutic outcomes. Experiential therapies, like Emotion Focused Therapy for Youth (EFT-Y), provide opportunities for SGs. Our study is the first to evaluate within-session SGs in EFT-Y. Method: Participants who completed treatment from a previous randomized, waitlist-control design were analysed for within-session symptom shifts. The subsample comprised 22 youth (ages 9-17), evaluating their emotion regulation (ER) and symptoms of depression. Measures were taken at eight time points: before treatment, at the beginning and end of sessions 2, 4, and 6, and after session 8. Results: Half of the participants experienced at least one SG in their ER, and 33% of participants experienced SGs in their depression symptoms. Regardless of SG status, all participants’ symptoms significantly improved post-treatment. Conclusion: Within EFT-Y, rapid improvements can occur within a single session, unlike the commonly studied phenomenon of SGs between sessions. Both SG-responders and non-SG-responders showed symptom improvements during and post-treatment, suggesting that EFT-Y is an effective treatment for young clients and that SGs may provide valuable insight into key moments of transformation and therapeutic progress.