Work

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

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To date, transdiagnostic treatments have primarily investigated treatment outcomes of general psychiatric symptomatology, rather than the specific transdiagnostic symptoms implicated in their protocols. The present study sought to address this significant gap in the literature by investigating the effect of transdiagnostic behavior therapy (TBT) on transdiagnostic avoidance. METHOD: Forty-four veterans diagnosed with various emotional disorders initiated TBT, and completed diagnostic and self-report measures at pre- and posttreatment. RESULTS: Participants demonstrated reliable treatment improvements in measures of situational, thought, and positive emotional avoidance, with moderate-to-large effect sizes, and in measures of physical/interoceptive avoidance with small-to-medium effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the hypothesized effect of TBT in self-report measures of four types of transdiagnostic avoidance in participants diagnosed with various emotional disorders. These findings contribute to the growing literature on the potential benefits of the transdiagnostic approaches to address symptomatology across diagnoses.

Source: Journal of Clinical Psychology

DOI: 10.1002/jclp.22874

Authors: Daniel F. Gros, Mary Oglesby Shapiro, Nicholas P. Allan

Institutions: Medical University of South Carolina, Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Ohio University

Language: English

Topic: Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Clinical Science Research and Development