Emotional logic development profiles – validating the benefits and safety of emotional logic training

31 Jan 2023

By Daniel Zahra, Marian Langsford & Trevor Griffiths and published in the International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practise.

General practices (GPs) working at a UK health centre had noticed that there was poor uptake of referrals they had made to the local anxiety and depression service. From discussion with patients, this was found to be due to the long delay between assessment and initiation of therapy, which is a problem common across mental health services in the United Kingdom. 

A number of individuals had made use of and reported improvements in their anxiety and depression following a locally available programme called Emotional Logic (EL; Griffiths 2013). This is a freely available programme accessible through both online and through local tutors. It provides a solution-focused method building on the concept of emotional intelligence (Goleman 2004) and value-based action plans to develop an understanding of emotional distress in order to help relieve it.

Given the accessibility of the EL programme and its potential benefits as an alternative or additional option for the treatment of anxiety and depression, the GP partners decided to employ two Emotional Logic tutors in the health centre and to audit the impact of EL. This included validating the emotional logic development profile (ELDP), a questionnaire developed by the Emotional Logic Centre to measure changes in emotional literacy and well-being after learning EL.