Transdiagnostic approaches to emotion regulation: Basic Mechanisms and Treatment Research

Abstract

This chapter delineates the transdiagnostic approach to emotion regulation in children and adolescents in terms of underlying mechanisms and unifying treatment approaches. Transdiagnostic attempts to explain the high incidence of comorbidity among related disorders, whilst enhancing understanding of the underlying mechanisms inferring commonalities in development, propagation, and impairment. Additionally, it seeks to streamline and enhance the impact of evidence-based interventions for psychological disorders. However, differing research designs, assessment tools, and analytic methodologies have made comparisons challenging. Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal research has identified commonalties across disorders related to strategy deployment and neurological involvement (amygdala). Interventions targeting emotional functioning have demonstrated efficacy for both primary and secondary issues. Research is limited in exploring the shift in emotion regulation functioning. Nascent research on DBT and ERT has employed robust treatment evaluations, reporting outcomes. These programs have demonstrated efficacy across numerous presenting problems maintaining effects in both short and long-term follow-ups.