Simplifying CBT with the Unified Protocol

Simplifying CBT with the Unified Protocol

Integrating transdiagnostic approaches for effective CBT treatment

10
CE Hours available

Most clinicians have caseloads comprised of clients with diverse difficulties. The explosion of specific manuals tied to each DSM disorder can leave clinicians wondering “how will I find the time to learn all of these approaches? Additionally, the majority of our clients come to treatment with more than one issue or diagnoses, making it easy to fall into the “where do I start” trap.

But what if you could learn ONE protocol that gets to the heart of what creates suffering for clients experience the most common mental health conditions? Proven effective in over 70 rigorous clinical trials, the Unified Protocol allows you to simultaneously reduce symptoms of co-occurring disorders with just one protocol.

Instead of playing whack-a-mole with each symptom, the Unified Protocol targets shared processes that put clients at risk for the full range of anxiety, depressive, trauma and stressor-related, obsessive-compulsive, and eating disorders. Specifically, the Unified Protocol recasts familiar cognitive-behavioral strategies (e.g., mindfulness, cognitive flexibility, countering emotional behaviors) to target negative responses to emotional experiences. In this workshop you’ll join, Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala, co-developer of the UP, as she introduces you to the transdiagnostic emotion-focused treatment principles and strategies proven to simplify the care you provide.

This training offers 10 CE hours if attended live. We can only provide CE to those who are present via Zoom for the live sessions. However, the sessions will be recorded and available to watch later. Registrants may access these recordings at any time for up to nine months after the live training ends.

Before registering, please review conflict of interest disclosures and complete CE information here.

Session 1 | April 1, 2025, 12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. EDT

Controversial issues in diagnosis

  • History of mental health disorders classification
  • Categorical approach: the problem of phenotypic overlap 
  • Comorbidity – when only the content of worries distinguishes diagnosis
  • Ill-fitting diagnostic boxes: unspecified and subthreshold presentations

Rationale for transdiagnostic treatment and a return to lumping disorders

  • Conventional approaches: the burden of one diagnosis = one treatment 
  • Personality/temperamental factors supporting a transdiagnostic approach 
  • Neurobiological evidence for going deeper than symptom level

The two vulnerabilities to developing emotional disorders 

  • Experiencing strong emotions and having strong negative reactions to intense emotions 
  • Transdiagnostic case conceptualization – when avoidance backfires 
  • Unified Protocol: core strategies to increase clients’ willingness to experience strong emotions 

Session 2 | April 8, 2025, 12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. EDT

Starting out: Understanding what gets clients going and what keeps them stuck

  • Conducting assessments and getting clients on board with UP treatment 
  • Harnessing and maintaining motivation 
  • Exercise: Goal setting and decisional balance 
  • Case study

Developing a better understanding of emotional experience 

  • Teaching clients the adaptive function of their uncomfortable feelings 
  • “Just relax” – understanding the interacting components of thoughts, physical sensations, and emotions 
  • Break out of the vacuum – recognizing the ARC (antecedents, response, consequence) 
  • Exercise: Cultivating mindful attention and Mindful mood induction 
  • Case study

Session 3 | April 15, 2025, 12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. EDT

Shining a light on how thinking generates and maintains distress 

  • Dismantling thinking traps: the role of automatic, habitual cognitive appraisals 
  • Targeting specific types of cognitive inflexibility: overestimation and catastrophizing 
  • What to do when cognitive work falls flat with your clients 
  • Exercise: Ambiguous picture

Understanding and countering avoidance strategies

  • The five categories of emotional behaviors that reinforce symptoms 
  • Deciding on alternative action experiments 
  • Exercise: Paradox of suppression 
  • Case study 

Session 4 | April 22, 2025, 12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. EDT

Fostering more accurate appraisals of body sensation

  • Shaking clients’ conviction that they cannot handle situations and emotions 
  • Interoceptive exposures – de-triggering your clients’ physical experience 
  • Exercise: Playground metaphor and generating exposure ideas 
  • Case study 

Climbing the ladder of emotion exposures

  • Situational, imaginal, interoceptive! 
  • Creating strong emotion to show clients they can cope 
  • Exposure preparation and debriefing 
  • Exercise: Create a hierarchy 
  • Case study

Session 5 | April 29, 2025, 12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. EDT

Maintaining gains and preventing relapse

  • Treatment consolidation and relapse prevention 
  • Tips for teaching clients to be their own therapist 
  • Exercise: Distinguish symptom relief goals from well-being goals 

Limitations of the research and potential risks

Participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the current method of classifying mental disorders. 
  2. Construct a transdiagnostic case conceptualization for clients presenting with comorbid disorders. 
  3. Utilize mindfulness-based interventions to increase clients’ awareness and experience of emotions. 
  4. Apply cognitive restructuring techniques targeting overestimation and catastrophizing. 
  5. Plan behavioral experiments to promote clients’ ability to engage in intentional action. 
  6. Utilize situational, imaginal, and interoceptive exposures to improve clients’ tolerance of strong emotions.

Please review complete CE and conflict-of-interest disclosure information prior to registering. This live online course is sponsored by Praxis Continuing Education and Training and is approved for 10 CE Hours by the following listed below. There was no commercial support for this activity. None of the planners or presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

Praxis CET maintains responsibility for the program with the CE approvals outlined below:

Joint Accreditation: In support of improving patient care, Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

IPCE: This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive 10 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change.

Nursing: Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc designates this activity for a maximum of 10 ANCC contact hours.

Physicians: Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc designates this live activity for a maximum of 10 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Psychologists: Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibly for the content of the programs.

Social Workers: As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc. is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 10 clinical continuing education credits.

Drug and Alcohol Counselors: This course has been approved by Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for 10 CE hours. NAADAC Provider #165310, Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc, is responsible for all aspects of its programming.

National Counselors: Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc. has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6759. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc. is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

NY Social Workers: Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0467

NY Counselors: Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0198.

NY Psychologists: Praxis Continuing Education and Training, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0002.

NOTE: Many state boards accept offerings accredited by national or other state organizations. If your state is not listed, please check with your professional licensing board to determine whether the accreditations listed are accepted.

This is a beginner level course for mental health professional (Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Counselors, Social Workers, Psychotherapists, MFT, Addiction Counselors, Nurses, Physicians and Other Mental Health Professionals)

Barlow, D. H., Farchione, T. J., Bullis, J. R., Gallagher, M. W., Latin, H., Sauer-Zavala, S., …. Cassiello-Robbins, C. (2017).  The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders compared to diagnosis-specific protocols for anxiety disorders: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 74, 875-884.

Bullis, J.R., Boettcher, H., Sauer-Zavala, S., & Barlow, D.H. (2019). What is an emotional disorder? A transdiagnostic mechanistic definition and implications for assessment, treatment and prevention. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 26(2), 19-x

Cassiello-Robbins, C., Southward, M., Tirpak, J., & Sauer-Zavala, S. (2020). A systematic review of Unified Protocol applications with adult populations: Facilitating widespread dissemination via adaptability. Clinical Psychology Review, 78, 101852.

Sakiris, N., & Berle, D. (2019). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Unified Protocol as a transdiagnostic emotion regulation based intervention. Clinical Psychology Review, 72, 101751-101751.

Sauer-Zavala, S., Fournier, J., Jarvi Steele, S., Woods, B., Wang, M., Farchione, T., & Barlow, D. (in press). Does the unified protocol really change neuroticism? Results from a randomized trial. Psychological Medicine, 1-10.

We understand, sometimes things come up!

Praxis will offer a full refund to registrants of both live and live-online trainings who cancel their registration up to 14 days before the course or workshop start date, minus an administrative processing fee of $30 for a 2-day workshop or online course, and a $50 fee for a 4-day workshop. If cancelled within 14 days, no refund will be issued, however, a credit for the same amount will be applied toward another learning product, which expires within 1 year. Please email us at online@praxiscet.com to cancel a registration.