Transdiagnostic group CBT for anxiety disorder: efficacy, acceptability, and beyond

Interest in transdiagnostic approaches to the cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) of emotional disorders has been increasing over the past decade. The purpose of this paper was to review the rationale behind transdiagnostic treatment models, describe one such group-based treatment protocol in detail, and report on the building evidence base to date. The evidence suggests that transdiagnostic CBT for anxiety is associated with symptom improvement, performs better than waitlist controls, is associated with improvements in comorbid disorders, and performs equiva-lently to established diagnosis-specific treatments. Transdiagnostic protocols are also associated with good client satisfaction, high levels of therapeutic alliance and group cohesion, and positive treatment perceptions during and following treatment. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.