Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of a Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment and Emotion Regulation Intervention in Anxious Arousal

Abstract

Background: The extremely high prevalence, chronicity, and high comorbidity with other mental disorders suggest that anxiety disorder imposes many expenses on individuals, families, and society, and has negative impacts on quality of life, social, and individual aspects. Methods: This quasi-experimental study utilized a pretest-posttest design with a follow-up period of three months. 30 eligible patients were selected by random sampling and assigned to two experimental (10 persons receiving unified protocol for the transdiagnostic treatment and 10 persons receiving emotion regulation intervention) and control (10 persons receiving no intervention) groups. The instrument for measuring variables was the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ-D30). The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (repeated measurements and Bonferroni post hoc test). Results: The results showed that the interventions had significant effects on anxious arousal and they were able to show therapeutic effects in the post-test stage maintained until the follow-up stage. The therapeutic effects of the interventions were slightly different, although statistically insignificant. Conclusions: The most important implication of the research is the effectiveness of the interventions. Thus, care therapists are suggested considering the relative limitations of specific treatments, avoiding the multiple treatment guidelines, and paying attention to the privilege of these approaches such as the applicability for a wide range of disorders and ability to easy learning. Thus, they would find these treatments effective in this area.