The Hybrid Project. Transdiagnostic emotion focused treatment for emotional and somatic comorbidity. A SCED on implementation and effectiveness in primary care

Pain patients often suffer from comorbid emotional problems and vice versa. The transdiagnostic perspective suggests that shared underlying mechanisms, such as emotion regulation processes, explain this. Today, patients are typically allocated treatment depending on their primary diagnosis, which may be insufficient for patients with comorbidity. 

Based on this, a new treatment was developed. This hybrid emotion-focused treatment combines cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) with an emotion regulation approach informed by Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and was successfully tested in a pilot study and an RCT. The current study is an implementation and effectiveness study with single case experimental design. The treatment is delivered by trained clinicians in primary care and rehabilitation centers.

Publications

Boersma, K., Södermark, M., Hesser, H., Flink, I. K., Gerdle, B., & Linton, S. J. (2019). Efficacy of a transdiagnostic emotion–focused exposure treatment for chronic pain patients with comorbid anxiety and depression: A randomized controlled trial. Pain, 160(8), 1708. 

Södermark, M., Linton, S. J., Hesser, H., Flink, I., Gerdle, B., & Boersma, K. (2020). What Works? Processes of Change in a Transdiagnostic Exposure Treatment for Patients With Chronic Pain and Emotional Problems. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 36(9), 648-657.