Rationale for the Development of the UP

Rationale for the Development of the UP. The development of the Unified Protocol was born from decades of clinical experience and corresponding research evidence. Clinically, it is evident that there is a high degree of comorbidity amongst anxiety and depressive disorders. Research findings suggest that this cormorbidity is due to core deficits present across the range of these diagnoses. These deficits include a biologically-based propensity for strong emotions, coupled with aversive reactions to these emotional experiences that lead to reliance on emotionally-avoidant coping strategies. Due to the role of strong emotions in the development and maintenance of all anxiety and depressive disorders, we refer to them as emotional disorders.  

The Unified Protocol was developed to explicitly address the core deficits shared across emotional disorders. We believe that targeting processes common across diverse disorders is a more efficient way of addressing comorbid conditions simultaneously than targeting the symptoms of each diagnosis individually. There is ample research support for this approach to treatment of emotional disorders.