Investigating the pattern of transdiagnostic related to emotion regulation of adolescents with high-risk behavior and effectiveness of integrated transdiagnostic protocol on reduction of their anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation.

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the examining the transdiagnostic model related to emotion regulation of adolescents with high-risk behaviors and the effectiveness of transdiagnostic treatment on reducing anxiety, depression, and emotion dysregulation in students with high-risk behaviors.

Materials and methods: The statistical population included all teenage students between the ages of 12-17 years studying in the academic year 2021-2022 in Tehran. For this purpose, 60 students who met the inclusion criteria were selected using a multistage cluster method and then randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Barlow's transdiagnostic treatment package (special for adolescents) was performed on the experimental group by a clinical specialist during 12 one-hour weekly sessions. The participants answered Beck's depression, Beck's anxiety, and emotion regulation questionnaires in three stages: pretest, posttest, and follow-up. Data were analyzed using multivariate covariance analysis.

Results: The results showed that the transdiagnostic protocol can be effective in reducing emotional problems such as reducing anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation in the experimental group compared to the control group.

Conclusion: According to the results obtained from the present study, similar transdiagnostic protocols can be used as effective methods to improve the emotional regulation of adolescents with high-risk behaviors.