An initial waitlist-controlled trial of the unified protocol for the treatment of emotional disorders in adolescents

- Conducted a randomized waitlist-controlled trial of the UP-A in 51 adolescents.
- UP-A outperformed WL condition at mid-treatment on clinician-rated severity.
- UP-A outperformed WL at post-treatment on clinician, parent, and self-report measures.
- Within-subjects analyses from all adolescents showed improvement on all measures.
- Improvements continued through the follow-up period but occurred more slowly.

A substantial proportion of adolescents are non-responders to well-established treatments for anxiety and depression, and many existent approaches do not adequately address comorbidity. There is a need to develop and evaluate unified treatments for adolescents that flexibly address higher order factors shared among internalizing or emotional disorders. The Unified Protocol for the Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adolescents (UP-A) is a transdiagnostic treatment that targets shared vulnerability and maintenance factors in a flexible format. This study examined initial outcomes of a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial of the UP-A. The UP-A outperformed waitlist at mid-treatment with respect to disorder severity and functional impairment, and there was a significant treatment effect in favor of the UP-A on all outcome measures at post-treatment. Within-subjects analyses collapsing across participants revealed significant improvements on outcome measures over time. Results support further study of the UP-A and its potential efficacy in treating adolescent anxiety and depression.