Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2021 Nov 8;18(21):11729.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111729.

A Preliminary Evaluation of the Unified Protocol among Trauma-Exposed Adults with and without PTSD

Caitlyn O Hood  1 , Matthew W Southward  1 , Christian Bugher  1 , Shannon Sauer-Zavala  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

A Preliminary Evaluation of the Unified Protocol among Trauma-Exposed Adults with and without PTSD

Caitlyn O Hood et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the Unified Protocol (UP)-a mechanistically transdiagnostic psychological treatment-provides benefit to individuals with a range of trauma histories, psychological difficulties, and diagnostic comorbidity. Using data from a sequential multiple-assignment randomized trial (SMART), this exploratory analysis included a sample of 69 community-recruited adults seeking outpatient mental health treatment. We examined reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms and changes in aversive and avoidant reactions to intense emotions-the UP's putative mechanism-first by comparing individuals with and without trauma histories and then specifically among participants with PTSD. Findings suggest that the UP may lead to similar improvements in clinical diagnostic severity, anxiety, and depression among patients with trauma exposure as those without trauma exposure. Roughly half of participants with PTSD demonstrated reductions in PTSD clinical severity, anxiety, depression, and distress aversion, suggesting the UP may be an efficacious treatment for people with PTSD and comorbid conditions.

Keywords: cognitive-behavioral therapy; posttraumatic stress disorder; transdiagnostic; trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®) American Psychiatric Publishing; Washington, DC, USA: 2013.
    1. Kessler R.C., Aguilar-Gaxiola S., Alonso J., Benjet C., Bromet E.J., Cardoso G., Degenhardt L., de Girolamo G., Dinolova R.V., Ferry F., et al. Trauma and PTSD in the WHO world mental health surveys. Eur. J. Psychotraumatol. 2017;8((Suppl. 5)):1353383. doi: 10.1080/20008198.2017.1353383. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chapman C., Mills K., Slade T., McFarlane A.C., Bryant R.A., Creamer M., Silove D., Teesson M. Remission from post-traumatic stress disorder in the general population. Psychol. Med. 2012;42:1695–1703. doi: 10.1017/S0033291711002856. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bryant R.A., O’Donnell M.L., Creamer M., McFarlane A.C., Clark C.R., Silove D. The psychiatric sequelae of traumatic injury. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2010;167:312–320. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09050617. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gallagher M.W., Brown T.A. Bayesian analysis of current and lifetime comorbidity rates of mood and anxiety disorders in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder. J. Psychopathol. Behav. Assess. 2015;37:60–66. doi: 10.1007/s10862-014-9436-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types