The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders Compared With Diagnosis-Specific Protocols for Anxiety Disorders

Abstract

clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01243606.

Transdiagnostic treatment of bipolar disorder and comorbid anxiety using the Unified Protocol for Emotional Disorders: A pilot feasibility and acceptability trial

“…The UP has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of a range of co-occurring anxiety and unipolar mood disorders (Barlow et al, submitted; Ellard, Fairholme, Boisseau, Farchione, & Barlow, 2010; Farchione et al, 2012), and preliminary data suggests efficacy for bipolar mood disorders as well (Ellard, Deckersbach, Sylvia, Nierenberg, & Barlow, 2012). The current study investigates the feasibility and acceptability of this approach as applied to the treatment of BD and comorbid anxiety disorders as an adjunctive treatment to standardized psychopharmacological treatment as usual (TAU).…”

Efficacy of transdiagnostic behavior therapy on transdiagnostic avoidance in veterans with emotional disorders

“…The findings address a significant omission in the previous investigations of TBT, and add to the growing literature of transdiagnostic evidence‐based psychotherapies. Along with the successful trials for the other protocols (Barlow et al, ; Farchione et al, ; Gros, ; Gros et al, ; Norton, ; Norton & Barrera, ; Riccardi et al, ), findings are increasingly supportive for the benefits of transdiagnostic psychotherapies, as compared with traditional disorder‐specific approaches in their coverage of a set of related diagnoses, coverage of comorbidity, and potential ease of dissemination and implementation.…”

“…While each of these treatments use a varying combination of cognitive and behavioral techniques, the treatments differ in their targeted transdiagnostic symptom/process that is identified to be central to symptom improvements. To name a few, unified protocol for emotional disorders (UP) was designed to address emotion dysregulation across psychopathology (Barlow et al, ) and transdiagnostic behavior therapy (TBT) identifies avoidance as its primary transdiagnostic target for the emotional disorders (Gros, ). Additional transdiagnostic treatments target safety behaviors (false safety behavior elimination therapy; Riccardi et al, ), or general symptomatology common among group of disorders (group cognitive‐behavioral therapy of anxiety; Norton, ).…”

“…Interestingly, although these transdiagnostic treatments purport to target a specific symptom, studies of their efficacy have rarely included targeted assessments of said symptoms. In the largest efficacy study of a transdiagnostic treatment to date, Barlow et al () did not include a measure of emotion regulation in their study of UP, but rather only reported measures of general psychopathology and specific diagnoses. The same was true of earlier pilot trials of UP (Ellard, Fairholme, Boisseau, Fachione, & Barlow, ).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue on Processes of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Does “Necessary, But Not Sufficient” Still Capture It?

“…The past two decades have witnessed some further advances, whereby core dimensions in psychopathology have been linked to treatment processes that are broadly relevant to the typical case presentation in the consultation office; where either full or partial DSM criteria for multiple disorders are met. Unified protocols that enable the therapist to both (1) develop an individual case formulation, and (2) select techniques that target those treatment processes to address the needs of each individual client (e.g., Barlow et al 2011Barlow et al , 2017 have enhanced the richness and complexity of therapeutic work in clinical trials and brought them closer to practice guidelines for case formulation-driven CBT (Beck 2011;Persons 2012). …”