Emotional processing difficulties scale-revised: preliminary psychometric study

Emotional Processing Difficulties are a core construct from Emotion-Focused Therapy and a clinical target for differentiated psychotherapeutic tasks. The identification of these emotional difficulties is largely based on observation and clinical judgment. This study describes the first psychometric analysis of the Emotional Processing Difficulties Scale-Revised (EPDS-R). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), reliability, and validity procedures were conducted in a sample of 260 participants. EPDS-R matched adequate EFA criteria (KMO = .89; Bartlett's sphericity test p < .001), suggesting a five-dimensional structure. Cronbach Alphas ranged from .87 to .70. Convergent validity was found between EPDS-R and difficulties in emotional regulation (DERS), and concurrent validity was found in two sub-samples based on > 1.7 clinical criteria from the Brief Symptom Index (BSI). According to this preliminary psychometric study, EPDS-R may be a valid tool to assess emotional processing difficulties in the general population.