The Effectiveness of Transdiagnostic Therapy on Emotion Regulation Strategies of Patients with Emotional Disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective: An important concept for understanding emotional disorders is emotion regulation. The present study focuses on Effectiveness of Transdiagnostic Therapy on emotion regulation strategies of patients with emotional disorders in comparison with cognitive-behavior therapy. Methods: This study was a pretest/posttest randomized control trial. A diagnostically heterogeneous clinical sample of 23 patients with a principal depression and anxiety disorders that randomly assigned in two groups (Transdiagnostic and CBT), and participated in eight sessions. Participants were recruited from clinical psychology and psychiatry clinics of Taleghani Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) were completed pre and post intervention by participants. The results were analyzed by dependent sample t test and analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: Transdiagnostic therapy resulted in significant improvement of the effectiveness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies. In addition, it is more effective for anxiety disorders in comparison to cognitive-behavior therapy. Conclusion: Transdiagnostic treatment was confirmed in decreasing negative affects and negative cognitive emotion regulation strategies and improving positive affect and positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in patients with depression and anxiety disorders, and was more effective than cognitive-behavior therapy for increased positive effects.