Objective: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of transdiagnostic treatment on maladaptive personality traits and mentalized affectivity of patients with generalized anxiety disorder comorbid with depression.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a single case method. The statistical population included people with generalized anxiety disorder comorbid with depression who were referred to counseling centers in Isfahan City, Iran in 2020. From this population, 5 people were selected via purposive sampling and they were intervened with transdiagnostic treatment through weekly sessions held individually. The subjects were assessed at the baseline, third, fifth, eighth, and tenth sessions, and during a 1-month follow-up period using the short version of the adult version of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition, personality questionnaire, and the mentalized affectivity scale. To report the data, we used visual analysis, reliable change index, improvement percentage, and statistical and clinical significance.
Results: The visual analysis, percentage of improvement, and reliable change index (RCI≥1/96), showed that transdiagnostic treatment created statistically significant changes and improvement in mentalized affectivity components, negative affectivity, and detachment; however, it did not have a significant effect on other personality traits (antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism).
Conclusion: Transdiagnostic treatment is an effective treatment to modulate the mentalized affectivity, negative affectivity, and detachment of people with generalized anxiety disorder comorbid with depression.
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• Comorbidity between generalized anxiety disorder and depression is a common clinical diagnosis.
• Comorbidity shows that these disorders may be due to common risk factors. Emotion regulation and Personality Traits have been suggested as common factors in the psychopathology of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) comorbid with depression.
• Transdiagnostic treatment is an effective treatment to modulate the mentalized affectivity and maladaptive personality traits of people with GAD comorbid with depression.
Plain Language Summary
Generalized anxiety disorder often confers vulnerability to other mental disorders such as depression. It is believed that the comorbidity of mental disorders can be caused by common factors such as components related to emotional regulation and personality traits that are common in the etiology of these disorders. Because comorbidity between mental disorders is common, identifying effective treatments for these patients is useful and can help both patients and therapists. In this research, the effectiveness of transdiagnostic therapy as a treatment designed to improve comorbid emotional disorders on mentalizd affectivity and maladaptive personality traits in 5 patients with generalized anxiety disorder comorbid with depression was investigated. The results showed that this treatment can help to modulate the identifying, processing and expression of emotion as well as reduce the level of negative affect and detachment in these patients.
Type of Study:
Research |
Subject:
Cognitive behavioral Received: 2022/08/28 | Accepted: 2022/12/6 | Published: 2023/04/1