title: Toward a Unified Treatment for Emotional Disorders: Update on the Science and Practice.
abstract: Mental health professionals have long been concerned with describing and proscribing a structure around the myriad variations of psychological and emotional distress that are deemed to be disordered. This has frequently been characterized as a conflict between so-called "lumpers" and "splitters"-those who advocate broad categorizations based on overarching commonalities versus those who endeavor toward a highly refined structure emphasizing unique characteristics. Many would argue that with the era of the modern Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III to DSM-5), a splitting ideology has been dominant despite re-emerging concerns that some groups of diagnoses, particularly disorders of anxiety and other emotions, may be more similar than different. As a result of such concerns, transdiagnostic or unified models of psychopathology have burgeoned. In this review, we describe the work of Barlow, Allen, and Choate (2004), whose invited paper "Toward a Unified Treatment for Emotional Disorders" reignited transdiagnostic perspectives of emotional disorders. We provide an update on the scientific models and evidence-based treatments that have followed in the wake of this 2004 publication, including key areas for future study in the advancement of transdiagnostic and unified treatment of emotional disorders.
authors.affiliation: Monash University. Electronic address: Peter.Norton@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Norton
authors.affiliation: University of Houston.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Paulus
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: anxiety; transdiagnostic; treatment; unified