I am in much admiration of FDT and these explorations of positive anticipation as a goal of therapy in itself - thank you for this follow up to the pilot study. May I ask, do you think something like "therapeutic daydreaming" might also help re-introduce activity in these lost "reward-expectation" processes? Your work corresponds so much to enlighten these depressed basal affective rates above which only the most salient of fortunate outcomes seem to raise a smile - it is as though the familiar experience of disappointment withers the pathways meant for reward-reinforcement, perhaps even pruning them completely. And FDT re-ignites their use so that this basal rate can "peer through" this cloud and see light ahead again. Is this an adequate perception of FDT's significant effect in this study?
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Hi Thank you for your interest in our paper. I'm not familiar with the term "therapeutic daydreaming" so I'm not sure how it compares to FDT. What I can say is that FDT is a fairly complex treatment in that we have examined the process by which people create future experiences using anticipatory thought and have designed models and intervention tools around this. It is not only the process of thinking about positive things in the future that leads to change it is really understanding the cognitive barriers and challenges that people experience in their expectation of being able to achieve what they want that makes the difference. Thinking about something wanted in the future can actually cause tremendous stress and negative emotion if one's expectation is that they can't achieve it. Helping people to close the gap between desire and expectation is what I believe makes FDT effective.
I hope that answers the question.
Sincerely,
Jennice
Thanks for your kind reply. I apologize for the unusual phrase, perhaps I should use "therapeutic visualization" which might be more appropriate. FDT seems to much expand ACBT by recognizing that present visualization of positive future outcomes with respect to the self creates meaningful affective elevation in the here and now - and this is a very meaningful subject for me (positive anticipation time). Why I am so encouraged by your current work is that here seems a chance to do with "time" what positive psychology has done for outlook in general - FDT seems to create "positive present time" (i.e. therapeutic anticipation training). I look forward to hearing more and hope your work will continue to grow, as it has already from the pilot study to this one. For me, I am moving toward belief that we can boost self-belief and mood in measurable ways during the time "between sessions" as much as during those sessions themselves.
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