Promoting Emotional Skills, Version 2.0 (PERS 2.0): Efficacy in Hypertensive Patients.

Hypertensives show a deficit in emotional regulation (Alexithymia). A 12 sessions group in Promoting Emotional Regulation Skills (PERS) allows to decrease blood pressure (BP) at 3 months follow up. Aim of our study was to verify the efficacy of a new version of PERS (PERS 2.0) in reducing BP in hypertensives in the short term and at one year after treatment. PERS 2.0 is characterised by a larger number of sessions than the previous version (14 instead of 12) and by more flexibility in the experience of “emotional play” proposed by the psychologists to the group on the basis of participants' psychological features. 43 hypertensives were recruited at the Centre for the treatment of hypertension of the Iª Clinica Medica of Policlinico Umberto I in Rome. PERS 2.0 comprehended two groups of 12 subjects; Waiting List, including 19 participants, was considered as control group. The use of antihypertensive drug was homogeneous in PERS and WL, gender and levels of alexithymia were balanced among participants. Before and after treatment, at 3 months follow up and 1 year after the beginning of the treatment, clinical recordings of BP were collected. A medical-psychological anamnesis was also performed. PERS 2.0 groups completed 14 weekly sessions of two hours. In each session, the psychologist alternatively proposed an experience of “psychological play”, focused on some particular aspects of emotions and followed by a cognitive-emotional elaboration on the topics treated in the PERS and reflection on what happened in the group. Participants were invited to extend their elaboration on daily emotional experiences. After the 14 sessions, there was a further individual clinical interview in order to plan how to use in daily life the emotional skills developed during the treatment. Main results showed lower levels of Systolic and Diastolic BP both in PERS and in WL (p=.001) group, but the decrease was greater in PERS than in WL, in particular at the 3 months follow up (p=.0004). In the PERS group, we found the BP decrease also 1 year after the beginning of the treatment (p=.002). Even if the blood pressure decreasing is present in both the groups, only in the PERS one this improvement in BP has persisted over time. Comparing the two versions of PERS treatment we could evaluate if PERS 2.0 is more effective than the previous version, as to support the enlargement of the number of the sessions.