Professor Danilo Moggia presents research at the 57th International Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research in Osaka

Professor Moggia presented the oral communication "How Central is EPO-1? Network Psychometric Analyses Among Common Outcome Measures." The study focused on the Emotional and Psychological Outcome–1 (EPO-1), a single-item measure of psychological well-being adopted within a European Society for Psychotherapy Research consortium to facilitate the comparison of psychotherapy outcomes across different countries and clinical services. The EPO-1 was introduced as a common outcome measure that could be easily incorporated into existing assessment protocols without replacing the instruments already used by participating services.

The study analysed data from 1,082 patients attending the Outpatient Psychotherapy Clinic of the University of Trier (Germany). Patients completed the EPO-1 together with established measures of depression, anxiety, and social functioning during their initial assessment. Using network psychometric analyses, the study examined how EPO-1 is connected to other psychological indicators. Unlike traditional psychometric approaches, which assume that psychological constructs are explained by underlying latent variables, network psychometrics conceptualises psychological constructs as systems of interacting symptoms and experiences.

The findings showed that the EPO-1 is consistently associated with indicators of psychological distress, particularly depressive symptoms and social functioning. Overall, the results suggest that the EPO-1 functions as an integrative indicator of positive mental health. Although embedded within the broader network of psychological distress, it occupies a distinct position by linking core depressive symptoms with broader aspects of functioning.

In addition to his research presentation, Professor Moggia participated as a discussant in the structured panel "A General Theory of Human Behaviour: A Foundation for Integrative Psychotherapy?" The panel explored whether psychotherapy research should strive for a single overarching theory of human behaviour. Professor Philipp Klein (University of Lübeck) presented the process-based cognitive behavioural therapy perspective, arguing that an evolutionary account of human behaviour could provide a unifying theoretical foundation.

Professor Moggia offered an alternative perspective, arguing that attempts to develop a unified theory of psychotherapy often result in the creation of yet another psychotherapy model. Instead, he proposed that psychotherapy research would benefit more from a meta-theoretical framework capable of facilitating dialogue among different theoretical traditions. He suggested that approaches such as 4E cognition and predictive processing may provide promising foundations for such integration at a higher abstraction level.