Disentangling Trait-Like Between-Individual vs. State-Like Within-Individual Effects in Studying the Mechanisms of Change in CBT

Hofmann et al. argued that “[w]hile the clinical field has produced a dizzying number of treatment models and treatment protocols for virtually every psychiatric and psychological problem imaginable, increases in understanding of the processes of change in psychotherapy has been slow to arrive.” We propose that one of the reasons for the slow progress is that prior psychotherapy research conflates trait-like and state-like components of mechanisms of change. Trait-like components can serve as prescriptive or prognostic variables, whereas state-like components reflect within-client processes of change, and may highlight active ingredients of successful treatment. Distinguishing between the two is essential for clarifying the underlying processes of change in psychotherapy, and ultimately identifying empirically-derived individualized treatment targets. We review studies that implement methodological and statistical approaches for disentangling the two. These studies clarified particular mechanisms of change that may operate in a given treatment, highlighted differences in the processes of change between different treatments, and explored the within-individual interplay between different mechanisms of change during treatment. Examples include studies investigating the therapeutic role of behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal skills, as well as emotional processing. We conclude with suggestions for future research, including attention to diversity, improved measurement to facilitate a reliable and valid estimation of trait-like and state-like components, the use of appropriate statistical approaches to adequately disentangle the two components, integration of theory-driven and data-driven methods of analysis, and the need to experimentally manipulate the state-like changes in a given mechanism of change to strengthen causal inferences.