A Preliminary Examination of the Effects of Transdiagnostic Versus Single Diagnosis Protocols on Anger during the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders

Clair Cassiello-Robbins, Shannon Sauer-Zavala, Julianne G. Wilner, Kate H. Bentley, Laren R. Conklin, Todd J. Farchione, David H. Barlow

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dysregulated anger is often present in the emotional (i.e., anxiety, mood, and related) disorders; however, it is rarely targeted in treatment. Transdiagnostic treatments, which focus on processes that contribute to dysregulated emotions across the range of psychopathology, might represent an efficient way to treat this anger. Using a subset of data from a recently completed equivalency trial comparing the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP) to single diagnosis protocols (SDPs) for specific disorders, this study began exploring whether the UP led to great reductions in anger compared with the SDPs. Results indicated that there was a small, nonsignificant, decrease in anger in the UP condition, whereas there was a moderate, nonsignificant increase in anger in the SDP condition. At posttreatment, UP patients had significantly lower anger scores than patients who received an SDP. These preliminary results suggest that transdiagnostic treatments may be well poised to target dyregulated anger in the context of emotional disorders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)549-554
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Volume206
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Anger
  • cognitive-behavioral therapy
  • emotional disorders
  • transdiagnostic treatment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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