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Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos del Principado de Asturias).
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Applying the unified protocol to a single case of major depression with schizoid and depressive personality traits

Jorge Osma1,2, Arantxa Sánchez-Gómez1, and Óscar Peris-Baquero2

1 Universidad de Zaragoza and
2 Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón

Background: The study presents the use of the Unified Protocol (UP) in a case of a male diagnosed with major depressive disorder and schizoid and depressive personality traits. The therapeutic focus of UP is to identify maladaptive behaviors of emotion regulation and to train new regulation strategies such as cognitive re-appraisal or emotional exposure exercises. Method: This is a single-case research study. The intervention was carried out in twenty 1-hour sessions for 6 months. After treatment completion, follow-ups were conducted at three, six, and twelve months. Results: The results of the 12-month follow-up revealed a clinically significant change in depressive symptomatology (RCIBDI-II = -5.51), negative affect (RCINEGATIVE PANAS = -3.61), quality of life (RCIICV-Sp = 4.61) and schizoid (RCIMCMI-III-Schizoid = -4.36) and depressive (RCIMCMI-III-Depressive = -5.24) personality traits. Schizoid and depressive personality traits did not interfere with the application, course, and compliance with treatment. These results are discussed with regard to similar studies, also based on the use of the UP to work on emotion regulation in the treatment of emotional disorders with clinical comorbidity. Conclusions: The training of emotion regulation strategies through UP could be an effective proposal to treat emotional disorders with pathological personality traits comorbidity.

Aplicando el protocolo unificado en un caso de depresión mayor y rasgos de personalidad depresivos y esquizoides. Antecedentes: presentamos la utilización del Protocolo Unificado (PU) en un caso de un hombre diagnosticado con Trastorno Depresivo Mayor y rasgos de personalidad Esquizoides y Depresivos. El PU se centra en identificar las conductas de regulación emocional desadaptativas y entrenar en nuevas estrategias de regulación como la re-evaluación cognitiva o la exposición emocional. Método: estudio de investigación de caso único. La intervención se desarrolló en 20 sesiones de 1 hora de duración durante 6 meses. Se realizaron seguimientos a los 3, 6 y 12 meses. Resultados: a los 12 meses de seguimiento se produjo un cambio clínico significativo en la sintomatología depresiva (RCIBDI-II = -5.51), afecto negativo (RCINEGATIVE PANAS = -3.61), calidad de vida (RCIICV-Sp = 4.61) y rasgos de personalidad esquizoides (RCIMCMI-III-Esquizoide = -4.36) y Depresivos (RCIMCMI-III-Depresivos = -5.24). Los rasgos de personalidad no interfirieron en la implementación, curso y adherencia al tratamiento. Los resultados se discuten con respecto a estudios similares basados en la utilización del PU para el entrenamiento en regulación emocional en casos con comorbilidad clínica. Conclusiones: el entrenamiento en estrategias de regulación emocional a través del PU puede ser una propuesta efectiva para el tratamiento de trastornos emocionales con rasgos de personalidad patológicos comórbidos.

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Impact factor 2022:  JCR WOS 2022:  FI = 3.6 (Q2);  JCI = 1.21 (Q1) / SCOPUS 2022:  SJR = 1.097;  CiteScore = 6.4 (Q1)