Unified Protocol

6.0 Credit Hours

Workshop Overview:

The proliferation of treatment manuals for specific disorders has introduced challenges to the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based psychological treatments (McHugh & Barlow, 2012). The Unified Protocol for the Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP; Barlow et al., 2018) is a recently developed transdiagnostic, emotion-focused cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) designed to address core deficits observed across the neurotic spectrum (such as anxiety, depressive, and related disorders). Dr. Sauer-Zavala will present research that supports the creation of such transdiagnostic interventions. She will discuss and demonstrate the application of key UP treatment modules, including comparisons between the UP and traditional CBT methods. This presentation will use audio and video examples of core treatment interventions (for instance, mindful awareness and emotion exposures), as well as case examples involving complex comorbidity. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in related exercises during these demonstrations.

Learning Objectives:

Workshop attendees will:

1. Develop a unified, transdiagnostic case conceptualization for patients presenting with comorbid emotional disorders.
2. Apply emotion-focused treatment concepts and strategies (e.g., objective monitoring, emotional awareness training, cognitive reappraisal, reduction of emotional avoidance and maladaptive emotion driven behaviors) to patients presenting with comorbid emotional disorders.
3. Create effective and cohesive emotion exposures for patients with depression and complex comorbidities.

Presenter Bio: Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala

Dr. Sauer-Zavala is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky (UK) and is the founding Director of Clinical Services at the UK Clinic for Emotional Health. She is also the Director of Compass Mental Health Consultation, LLC, an organization with a mission to train mental health providers and organizations in cutting-edge evidence-based interventions. Dr. Sauer-Zavala earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from UK in 2011. As a part of her training, she successfully completed a predoctoral internship at Duke University Medical Center and a postdoctoral fellowship at Boston University (BU). She then served for seven years on the faculty in BU’s Department of Psychological and Brain Science. She returned home to UK in 2019. Her research focuses on exploring personality-based mechanisms that maintain psychological symptoms and applying this information in developing targeted and easily disseminated intervention strategies.

She is a co-author and developer of the Unified Protocol and, more recently, BPD Compass, a short-term intervention for borderline personality disorder. In addition, she has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books.

Her research has been supported by NIMH, NIAAA, Templeton Foundation, the Center for Implementation and Improvement Sciences, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Email Dr. Sauer-Zavala at ssz@personality-compass.com and follow her on Twitter/X at @saierZavala or Instagram at @self.made.personality.

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