Research projects

This research area has been the most invested in since the 1990s (e.g., Zech, 2006). It examines the risk or protective factors of the bereavement process, particularly the attachment style to the deceased (secure vs. insecure, e.g., Delespaux, Ryckebosch-Dayez, Heeren, & Zech, 2013), the type of relationship to the deceased (child, parent, spouse, or other), and social support. A series of studies have been conducted with the help of doctoral students, post-docs, as well as master's students and interns. The research has notably tested a series of hypotheses derived from the Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement (DPM) by Stroebe and Schut (1999, 2010). This research area has recently continued with an international study (COVIDEUIL) examining the effects of funeral rite restrictions on the bereavement process. Associated with clinical practice in the field, they have led to the development of a conception of clinical interventions for bereaved individuals focused on bereavement processes and relational processes centered on the bereaved person (e.g., Zech, Ryckebosch-Dayez, & Delespaux, 2010). One project also examines the effects of the psychodiagnosis of pathological grief on the discrimination of bereaved individuals (with the help of master's students, see also Area 2). A final project on scientific research methods is under development and examines whether sampling and recruitment strategies in this field generate significant biases (particularly gendered) in the results, conclusions, and (clinical) recommendations of this field.

Close collaborations with several associations are underway:

• The collaborative network COVIDEUIL, including Canada, Spain, Mexico, France.
• Members of the International Workgroup on Death, Dying, and Bereavement (https://www.iwgddb.com/)

Ongoing projects:

• Camille Boever (2021-, doctoral student Fresh)
• Antonin Le Maire (2025-, co-promotion Prof. O. Riaudel, RSCS)
• Andrea Redondo (2024, UGranada-UAlicante, doctoral intern)
• Laurence Arcand (2025, UQO, Canada, doctoral intern)

Completed projects:

• Emily Delespaux (2008-2013, doctorate) examined the cognitive inhibition processes underlying intense ruminations and grief reactions. Based on experimental studies, she notably showed that bereaved spouses with many mental ruminations were less able (1) to ignore or limit automatic access to grief-related thoughts (compared to negative or positive thoughts) (Delespaux & Zech, 2015) and (2) to intentionally suppress and control grief-related thoughts as well as more generally negative and positive thoughts compared to neutral thoughts (Delespaux & Zech, 2017).
• Leonor Fasse (2013, post-doctorate) examined, based on research interviews conducted one year after the death of their spouse, the daily subjective experiences of 16 widowed individuals and how they could or could not be found in the DPM. Thirteen of the 16 interviewed individuals reported that their experiences generally corresponded well to the model. However, they also identified differences in terms of (1) difficulty in distinguishing coping processes (they are often interdependent rather than separate), (2) unconscious and unintentional nature of coping "strategies," and (3) nature of respite moments in the bereavement process. Leonor is now a Lecturer at the University of Burgundy Franche-Comté (France).
• Manuel Fernandez-Alcantara (2016, international doctorate, UGranada) examined the impact of kinship (child, spouse, parent, grandparents) on the intensity and types of grief reactions based on theses conducted at UCL (Fernandez-Alcantara & Zech, 2018). This study shows that parents and spouses are particularly affected and that the types of grief reactions are experienced differently depending on the type of kinship. A similar study to that conducted by Laetitia took place in Spain and shows that Spanish caregivers are particularly helpless in the face of perinatal death situations. Manuel is now a Professor at the University of Alicante.
• Laurent Knoops (Head of Clinic, Cliniques Universitaires St Luc, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Duve Institute, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research, holder of the Chair in Palliative Care at Cliniques Universitaires St Luc) on the experience of critical incidents, particularly related to patient death and the helplessness felt as a caregiver, that 3rd-year medical students may have experienced during their first practical internship.
• Anne-Sophie Ryckebosch-Dayez (2007-2016, doctorate) developed a series of studies testing several postulates of the DPM, both based on qualitative studies (logbook) and quantitative studies (questionnaire). Her research notably showed that, one year after the death of a spouse, (1) loss-related stressors are the most frequent, (2) specific coping strategies are effectively used to deal with certain specific stressors (including avoidance strategies, particularly effective for dealing with internal stressors), (3) in a significant number of cases, bereaved individuals use several successive strategies or none, and (4) certain stressors and strategies are associated with specific times of the day (e.g., Ryckebosch-Dayez, Zech, Mac Cord, & Taverne, 2016).
• Laetitia Schul-Martin (2014-2019, doctorate) worked on the practices of caregivers and parents after a perinatal loss (death of the fetus/baby after 22 weeks of gestation to 7 days after birth). Her first study, based on interviews with 16 caregivers from two Belgian university hospitals, notably showed that they tended to try to humanize the deceased fetus/baby to facilitate the parents' bereavement process.

This second line of research investigates the relational conditions that facilitate personal and therapeutic change (Zech, 2008; Zech, Brison, Elliott, Rodgers, & Cornelius-White, 2018) in individual and couple therapies for adults, as well as the development of therapists' attitudes and skills.

Close collaborations with the Louvain Psychotherapy Research Group (website: https://www.louvain-psychotherapy-research-group.com/) are established, as well as with members of the following organisations:

• Association Francophone de Psychothérapie Centrée sur la Personne et Expérientielle (AFPC, Brussels; https://www.afpc.be/)
• Vlaamse Vereniging van Cliëntgericht-Experiëntiële Psychotherapie en Counseling (VVCEPC; website https://vvcepc.be/)
• World Association for Person Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling (PCE-World; https://www.pce-world.org/fr/) and PCA-Europe (https://pce-europe.org/)
• pcaSuisse (https://www.pcasuisse.ch/page-daccueil)

Ongoing Projects

Hubert de Condé (2020-, co-supervised by E. Zech and J. Willemsen) explores the integration of personal and professional experiences among therapists and how this integration leads to changes in professional practices. Specifically, the project aims to study a model exploring the personal and professional development of the therapist-as-person. Preliminary results highlight the importance of understanding the types of significant events reported by therapists. Therapists are influenced by personal, professional, and hybrid events. The interaction between personal and professional life is emphasised by the participants. Our results suggest that therapists experience their professional development from an integrated self-perspective (de Condé et al., 2023), recalling events that are both personal and professional (de Condé et al., 2024). Hybrid events have also been identified, illustrating the extent to which some events simultaneously belong to both spheres, such as personal therapy, which is neither solely private nor solely professional. This shows that the therapist-as-person develops through clinical practice and training, as well as through personal experiences (de Condé et al., 2024; Willemsen et al., 2023).

George (Prem Adri) Fragakis (2023-, supervised by E. Zech) examines the ethical and relational challenges that arise when person-centred therapists face value conflicts rooted in political, cultural, or religious worldviews. The project explores how these tensions are negotiated in therapeutic encounters where clients' belief systems and lived experiences diverge significantly or align closely with those of the therapist—particularly in contexts marked by shared histories of trauma, marginalisation, or sociopolitical struggle. The central hypothesis posits that ideological and experiential dissonance—as well as resonance—can pose a significant challenge to therapists' ability to maintain the therapeutic conditions of the person-centred approach: congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathic understanding. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the study integrates qualitative analyses of case studies (e.g., thematic analysis, autoethnography, interpretative phenomenological analysis), experimental exploration, and a critical evaluation of training programmes informed by intersectionality. The research aims to develop a situated and process-sensitive understanding of how person-centred therapists navigate value conflicts—whether dissonant or resonant—by examining the intrasubjective and intersubjective mechanisms through which they maintain ethical integrity, therapeutic congruence, and relational presence in ideologically charged and experientially complex therapeutic encounters.

One project studies the beneficial and detrimental effects of evaluative (psychodiagnostic) vs. person-centred comprehensive conceptions of psychopathologies on clients, their relatives, therapists, and the care provided. Several preliminary studies have been conducted by students on "disorders" such as bipolarity, schizophrenia, and pathological grief.

Completed Thesis Projects

Céline Brison (2008-2016, co-supervised by E. Zech and Nady Van Broeck) was the first to initiate research in this area and conducted a series of studies in care services (oncology, anxiety disorders, long-term psychiatric hospital, alcohol addiction) to examine to what extent therapeutic attitudes, i.e., authenticity, empathy, unconditional positive regard, developed by caregivers predicted a favourable course of difficulties experienced by patients/clients as well as the development of their personality towards greater flexibility, acceptance, and self-awareness (e.g., Brison, de Timary, & Zech, 2016). She also tested the effectiveness of innovative pedagogical methods (i.e., serially debriefed home role-playing, participation in an experiential encounter group) for psychology students and showed that they developed not only their therapeutic skills and attitudes but also their therapeutic being and psychological flexibility (e.g., Brison, Zech, Jaeken, Priels, Van Broeck, Verhofstadt, & Mikolajczak, 2015).

Marine Jaeken (2011-2017, co-supervised by E. Zech, M. Mikolajczak, and L. Verhofstadt) designed, developed, and tested the effectiveness of a training programme for psychology students to develop their helping skills, particularly empathic skills (e.g., Jaeken, Zech, Brison, Verhofstadt, Van Broeck, & Mikolajczak, 2017). She set up an e-learning site and tested the effectiveness of a structured 8 or 12-hour training in helping skills using videos created for the site (see Helpingskills site at https://ucline.uclouvain.be/).

François Moors (2011-2020) completed a thesis in which he examined to what extent therapists' interaction modes influence client satisfaction during a first therapy session depending on the client's interpersonal profile (i.e., which combinations of personal profiles are the most satisfying). His research confirmed that warm therapist behaviours explained the most satisfaction but also innovated by showing that therapist agency (dominance-competence) also explained this satisfaction and, importantly, that clients' and therapists' interpersonal modes interacted: more "dominant" clients are also satisfied with dominant-profile therapists, but non-assertive clients only favour warm therapists (e.g., Moors & Zech, 2017).

Morgane Xhonneux (2019-2023, co-supervised by E. Zech and M. Géonet) began a project on therapeutic alliance ruptures within couple therapy. While there is no doubt that the alliance plays a major role in the effectiveness of therapies, it is built and nurtured through three therapeutic attitudes: authenticity/congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy. The alliance has been predominantly conceptualised in individual therapies, whereas a limited number of studies have focused on the characteristics of the alliance within couple therapies. Yet, it is a therapeutic setting where alliance ruptures can be particularly frequent. We hypothesised that increasing congruence and UPR in the therapist would reduce alliance ruptures and increase the effectiveness of couple therapies. This project was terminated prematurely.

This line of research emerged in collaboration with Isabelle Roskam (PSP/IPSY) and Moïra Mikolajczak (PSP/IPSY), who investigate parental and professional burnout.

Pierre Gérain (2016-2020) studied the issue of burnout among informal caregivers. The objective is to study the problem of burnout among informal caregivers, also known as "family caregivers" or "informal caregivers". Burnout has been extensively studied among professional caregivers but mainly in terms of the "burden" felt by informal caregivers. His first study showed that parents of children with difficulties (disabilities, developmental problems) were at higher risk of experiencing burnout reactions, especially when multiple issues were involved, compared to parents of children without difficulties (Gérain & Zech, 2018). A second meta-analytic study also confirmed that informal caregivers had an increased risk of burnout compared to non-caregivers. Two other studies (one epidemiological and one ongoing) aim to examine the risk and protective factors of the effects of caregiving on health (both positive and detrimental). A model for understanding the impact of caregiving has been conceptualised, integrating risk and protective factors as well as mediators of the impact.

Nicolas Westrelin (2021-2025, co-supervised by Prof. Catherine Denève, Université catholique de Lille) studied a question aimed at understanding why respite services are underutilised by informal caregivers. His thesis examined the processes of identification (or non-identification) of individuals with the role of informal caregiver. An interview-based study showed that informal caregivers change and acquire this identity in connection with the perceived physical, cognitive, and relational changes in their ill spouse. A second quantitative study explored the relationships between this identification process and these perceived changes, anticipatory grief, and the use of respite services.

This line of research was pursued between 1993 and 2005 and had several extensions (see Axes 1, 2, 3, and 6). Initially, we tested to what extent verbalising emotions felt following life events had beneficial effects. The results of these studies mainly showed that:

• The belief in the beneficial effects of sharing emotions is widely held.
• Contrary to the idea of a cathartic effect, verbalising emotions has no effect on emotional recovery measured at various times (emotional intensity pre- vs. post-social sharing), regardless of how it is discussed (emotions, facts, meanings).
• However, people who share their emotions subjectively report beneficial effects: they say it helps and relieves them. It also increases feelings of intimacy, affection, and affiliation with the partner (especially when the partner listened and understood).

This productive line of research was conducted in direct collaboration with Professors Bernard Rimé, Olivier Luminet, Véronique Christophe (Université de Lille-III), James Pennebaker (Southern Methodist University), Peter Lang, and Margaret Bradley (University of Florida), and two post-doctoral researchers: Catharine Evers (now Professor at Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands) and Dimitry Davydov (researcher at the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow).

This line of research was pursued between 2000 and 2010 and developed around three projects. Following studies on the expression of everyday emotions, the first project examined the short-term reactions of personnel involved in critical incidents and the effectiveness of social resources and psychological debriefing interventions conducted within the Federal and Local Police in Belgium (Zech, De Soir, & Ucros, 2008; collaboration with the Stress Team of the Federal Police, the psychosocial services of local police forces, and Erik De Soir & Jacques Mylle from the Royal Military Academy).

Two extensions of this project emerged following the disaster that occurred at the end of July 2004 in the Ghislenghien industrial zone. Firstly, a study similar to the one conducted with police services was carried out with police, firefighters, and emergency responders involved in the disaster (in collaboration with the Stress Team of the Federal Police, the Royal Military Academy, and the Aid Service for Police Officers and Firefighters of Hainaut (SPAPP)). Secondly, a collaboration with the epidemiology section of the Scientific Institute of Public Health (ISP) enabled a study on the impact of the disaster on physical, mental, and social health, particularly on the incidence of post-traumatic stress among the civilian population around the epicentre. With the support of the Ministry of Public Health, a longitudinal study with two measurement points was funded and conducted (N = 1024 adults and 127 children aged 8 to 14 living in the municipalities of Ghislenghien, Ollignies, Bassily, Hellebecq, Meslin-l’Evêque, Gibecq, and Isières). The results were reported and published in collaboration with E. De Soir, A. Versporten, and H. Van Oyen (De Soir, Versporten, Van Oyen, Kleber, van der Hart, Mylle, 2008; De Soir, Versporten et al., 2015; De Soir, Zech et al., 2015).

A third line of research, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Florida, NIMH-Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention (Peter Lang and Margaret Bradley), and the University of Konstanz (Thomas Elbert, Margarete Schauer, Frank Neuner), aimed to examine the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce post-traumatic stress reactions in Belgium (among refugee populations) and abroad (German, English, and Italian partners): Narrative Exposure Therapy. This project was funded twice by the European Union (European Community Fund (2005-2006), European Refugee Fund: Community Actions 2006) and enabled the engagement of Dr. Pamela Bell. A symposium was organised at the European Commission to bring together potential field partners with access to refugees in Belgium (in Flanders, Brussels, and Wallonia, e.g., Belgian Red Cross, Fedasil, Closed Centres, MSF). It turned out that the healthcare access system in Belgium, particularly for mental health care for refugees, is very diversely structured, uncoordinated, and underfunded. This situation implies that in Belgium, it was more urgent to assess the healthcare needs and health status of refugees than to consider testing the effectiveness of a specific therapeutic intervention, even though the manual is available in French (Zech & Vandenbussche, 2010).

This line of research was pursued thanks to the doctoral thesis of David Ogez, co-supervised with Prof. Philippe de Timary (Cliniques Universitaires St Luc) and a collaboration with Serge Sultan (University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine, Canada) and Cécile Flahault (University Paris-Descartes) as part of the thesis supervision of Léonor Fasse (now a Senior Lecturer) on Bereavement related to the loss of a spouse with cancer. David's research investigated the effects of an initial semi-structured consultation with a psychologist for patients who had just learned of a cancer diagnosis (e.g., Ogez et al., 2014). This first systematically implemented contact aimed to allow the psychologist to identify the psychological needs and psychopathological difficulties of the patients, as well as their personal and social resources. Controlled longitudinal studies mainly showed that patients who participated in this consultation exhibited less depression, less need for medical information, and less use of distracting coping mechanisms (Ogez et al., 2017). International collaborations were also established with Prof. Véronique Christophe, University of Lyon (also involved in caregiver burnout projects). This line of research is continued by Marie Géonet.