State of the Science: The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders

Unified Protocol Versus Self‐Acceptance Group Therapy for Emotional Disorders in People With Severe Shame

“…An important feature of the UP that distinguishes it from SAGT is its explicit focus on the functional relationship between emotional reactivity and avoidant responses to this reactivity (Farchione et al 2024). By encouraging patients to experience full exposure to their emotions, the UP facilitates extinction of the anxiety and distress that is associated with intense emotional experience (Farchione et al 2024). Our results can therefore be said to provide support for the theoretical rationale for UP as a treatment for emotional dysfunction.…”

“…This superiority of UP over SAGT in reducing emotional dysfunction indicates a greater ability of individuals in the group treated with UP, compared with those treated with SAGT, to self-regulate emotionally. An important feature of the UP that distinguishes it from SAGT is its explicit focus on the functional relationship between emotional reactivity and avoidant responses to this reactivity (Farchione et al 2024). By encouraging patients to experience full exposure to their emotions, the UP facilitates extinction of the anxiety and distress that is associated with intense emotional experience (Farchione et al 2024).…”

“…Neuroticism describes individual differences in the tendency to experience negative emotions generally, not just shame but also anxiety, depression, irritability and anger (DeYoung 2015). For those working in the UP conceptual framework, neuroticism plays a key role in the development of emotional disorders (Farchione et al 2024). Not only neurotic individuals show an increased reactivity to emotional experiences, but they also perceive them as unpredictable and uncontrollable, responding in ways that lead to the development and maintenance of emotional disorders (see figure 1 in Farchione et al 2024).…”