Targeting Common Factors Across Anxiety and Depression Using the Unified Protocol for the Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adolescents

Clinical approaches to mood and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents have historically been confined to either diagnosis- e.g., for obsessive–compulsive disorder vs. generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), etc.] or domain-specific (e.g., for anxiety disorders vs. depressive disorders) treatments. However, as conceptualizations of mental illness shift towards a more dimensional model e.g., the recent Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) from the National Institutes of Health], transdiagnostic treatments, such as the unified protocol for the treatment of emotional disorders in adolescents (UP-A; Ehrenreich et al. in Child Fam Behav Ther 31(1):20–37, 2008), are gaining support in the empirical literature. This paper reviews the common treatment targets across three emotional disorders commonly found in adolescence: GAD, social anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder. In particular, similarities and differences across potential treatment mechanisms, including cognitive and information processing deficits, problem-solving difficulties, and avoidance strategies are examined. Finally, the case of 17-year-old “Andrea” is presented to demonstrate how transdiagnostic approaches like the UP-A can be effective in treating a range of emotional disorders in youth.