Synopses & Reviews
Emerging conceptualizations of major emotional disorders emphasize their commonalities rather than their differences, including considerable overlap in disorder phenomenology, a common set of vulnerabilities to development of emotional disorders, and generalization of treatment response across disorders. Current research lends support for a unified transdiagnostic approach to treatment of these disorders that considers these commonalities and is applicable to a range of emotional disorders.
Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders, part of the TreatmentsThatWork series of therapist manuals and patient workbooks, is a radical departure from disorder-specific treatments of various emotional disorders, and is designed to be applicable to all anxiety and unipolar mood disorders, as well as other disorders with strong emotional components, such as many somatoform and dissociative disorders. The Unified Protocol (UP) capitalizes on the contributions made by cognitive-behavioral theorists by distilling and incorporating the common principles of CBT present in all evidenced based protocols for specific emotional disorders, as well as drawing on the field of emotion science for insights into deficits in emotion regulation. The UP contains seven modules and focuses on four core strategies: becoming mindfully aware of emotional experience; reappraising rigid emotion laden attributions; identifying and preventing behavioral and emotional avoidance; and facilatating exposure to both interoceptive and situational cues associated with emotional experiences. Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders will be an essential resource for all therapists and psychiatrists who implement CBT strategies, as well as any clinician treating anxiety and depressive disorders.
Review
"A truly important book. This new approach to the treatment of the emotion-based disorders specifies in a lucid and accessible way a coherent group of strategies and procedures for addressing the processes that maintain these disorders. Strongly recommended."--Christopher G. Fairburn, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford
"With admirable grace, David Barlow's Unified Protocol segues through a series of evidence-based change techniques. Discussions of motivational interviewing, cognitive flexibility, and empathy are especially lucid. Hats off to the authorship team! Thanks for leading us into a new era of evidence-based practice."--Bonnie Spring, Ph.D., Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University
"The unified protocol distills the core strategies emerging from the cognitive and behavioral interventions into a common set of principles that can be applied broadly to treat a diverse array of emotional and psychological disorders. The approach has great merit and represents a valuable advance in the field of clinical interventions."--Steven D. Hollon, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Vanderbilt University
"In addressing the two problems of comorbidity and transdiagnostic symptoms, David Barlow and his colleagues have developed a treatment program with wide applicability in everyday clinical practice--important for all mental health professionals."--Richard J. McNally, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Harvard University
"The therapist guide and patient workbook provide an important step-by-step resource for therapists, as well as education and concrete treatment strategies for patients themselves."--Suzanne Bennett Johnson, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor, Florida State University College of Medicine
"Barlow and colleagues provide an outstanding clinical tool in their Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders. Superbly written and truly at the cutting edge of the field!"--Michelle G. Craske, PhD., Professor and Vice-Chair, Department of Psychology, UCLA
About the Author
David H. Barlow, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Founder and Director Emeritus of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University. He is the editor for the
Treatments That Work series of therapist manuals and patient workbooks, as well as the editor of
The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Psychology.
Todd J. Farchione, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, and Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University.
Christopher P. Fairholme, Ph.D. completed his training in clinical psychology at Boston University and is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University.
Kristen K. Ellard, Ph.D. is a Clinical Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Christina L. Boisseau, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor (Research) at Brown Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.
Laura B. Allen, Ph.D. (now Laura A. Payne) is currently a Clinical Instructor in Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Jill Ehrenreich-May, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and Director, Child and Adolescent Mood and Anxiety Treatment Program, University of Miami.
Table of Contents
Part 1 Background for Therapists
Chapter 1 Introductory Information for Therapists
Chapter 2 The Nature of Emotional Disorders
Chapter 3 Basic Principles Underlying Treatment and Outline of the Treatment Procedures
Chapter 4 Overview of General Treatment Format and Procedures
Part 2 Treatment Modules
Chapter 5 Module 1: Motivation Enhancement for Treatment Engagement
Chapter 6 Module 2: Understanding Emotions
Chapter 7 Module 2: Recognizing and Tracking Your Emotional Responses
Chapter 8 Module 3: Emotion Awareness Training: Learning to Observe Experiences
Chapter 9 Module 4: Cognitive Appraisal and Reappraisal
Chapter 10 Module 5: Emotion Avoidance
Chapter 11 Module 5: Emotion-Driven Behaviors
Chapter 12 Module 6: Awareness and Tolerance of Physical Sensations
Chapter 13 Module 7: Interoceptive and Situational Emotion Exposures
Chapter 14 Medications for Anxiety, Depression, and Related Emotional Disorders
Chapter 15 Module 8: Accomplishments, Maintenance, and Relapse Prevention
References
About the Authors