David Barlow, Ph.D.

 

 

 

by Lynn Mollick

 

       

            Dr. David Barlow presented his model for a Unified Therapy of all emotional disorders to a record-breaking audience of 96 at NJ-ACT’s 12th annual Master Lecture. The model’s central concept is that emotional disorders occur when individuals develop maladaptive escape and avoidance behaviors to cope with their negative emotions that they perceive as unpredictable, uncontrollable threats.

            Unified Therapy promotes non-judgmental acceptance of all negative emotions, and confronting rather than avoiding situations that evoke these emotions. Its key elements are: 

            1.  Psychoeducation – Teach patients about the connections among the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components of emotionally-driven behavior (EDB).  

            2.  Put the EDB in context – do a functional analysis.  What are the ABCs – the antecedents of the EDB, the behavior itself, and consequences of the behavior?

             3.  Facilitate exposure to negative emotional experiences rather than escape or avoidance behavior. 

            4.  Teach a non-judgmental attitude toward emotions. Use mindfulness and acceptance strategies to accept and fully experience negative emotions. 

            5.  View cognitive appraisals of negative emotional experiences as one possible interpretation rather than absolute truth.  Don’t assume negative appraisals are correct. 

            Dave described two new emotional exposure techniques:

·                     - Listen to a song that evokes emotion.  Describe thoughts, feelings, and sensations associated with the emotions elicited. Initially, guide patients to fully experience their feelings. Do the same with incidents reported by patients.

           - Show patients TAT cards or other ambiguous pictures, and explore their explanations, thoughts and emotions. Ask patients for alternate explanations of the scenes to help them learn to think in different ways about situations.

 

                  

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