The effectiveness of unified transdiagnostic treatment on psychological distress and alexithymia in people with hypertension comorbid with stress

Abstract

Introduction: Diseases such as high blood pressure with comorbid psychological problems can make it difficult to manage and control. People with this disease are likely to experience comorbid stresses. Aim: The aim of the present study was the effectiveness of unified transdiagnostic treatment on psychological distress and alexithymia in people with hypertension with comorbid stress. Method: The present study was a semi-experimental type with a control group. 40 patients with high blood pressure with co-occurring stress were selected from health centers of Aliguderz city in 2021 through convenience sampling method. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental group (20 people) and the control group (20 people). They completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire (DASS-21, 1995) and the Toronto Ataxia Scale (1994) in two stages: pre-test and post-test. The experimental group received the unified metadiagnostic treatment protocol for 12 sessions of 60 minutes, but the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were analyzed with SPSS-18 and through multivariate analysis of covariance test. Results: The results of covariance analysis showed that unifield transdiagnostic treatment significantly effective in improvement alexithymia (F=56.24, P<0.01) and reducing depression (F=0.65, P<0.01), anxiety (F=8.86, P<0.01) and stress (F=5.43, P<0.01) in the sample of hypertension patients comorbid with stress. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the unified transdiagnostic treatment affects reducing psychological distress and alexithymia. Therefore, this protocol can be used to improve the psychological problems of these patients.