The importance of idiographic and functionally analytic strategies in the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders

Abstract

Methodology in the behavioral sciences is heterogeneous, and this is particularly true in the application of methodologies in the study of the nature and treatment of psychopathology and related areas of applied behavior change. For this reason, the very thoughtful and thorough report on strategies and tactics of contextual behavioral science (CBS) research to which this commentary is directed (The Report) is very welcome (Hayes et al., 2021). For our part we will focus comments on several key features and recommendations from The Report, with emphasis on intensive dynamic longitudinal and functionally analytic research strategies for studying behavior change with an idiographic focus. We will also underscore our strong agreement with the need for a multilevel focus and will illustrate many of these issues in the context of our ongoing research on developing a deeper understanding of, and new interventions for, the emotional disorders. To this end we will review some of our recent research on the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders (UP), a cognitive behavioral intervention with increasing evidence for efficacy across a wide range of disorders characterized by emotion dysregulation, among other things.