Transdiagnostic Cognitive-Behavioral Treatments for Mood and Anxiety Disorders: Introduction to the Special Issue

Transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral approaches attempt to develop broad theories of clinical conditions (e.g., general theories of mood and anxiety disorders) and corresponding treatment protocols that can be applied to a range of clinical conditions. These can be contrasted with diagnosis-specific theories and treatments, which focus on particular clinical conditions (e.g., theories of panic disorder and panic-specific treatments). In this introductory article we trace the history of transdiagnostic and diagnosis-specific cognitive-behavioral approaches. Both have their origins in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Over the subsequent decades there was waning interest in transdiagnostic approaches and a corresponding increase in interest in diagnosis-specific approaches to theory and treatment. Over the past several years, however, interest has been revived in transdiagnostic approaches. We summarize the reasons for this growing interest and provide an overview of the following articles in this special issue.