Stay Healthy and Happy for Parents

Chapter 17 reviews Emotion Detective skills and opposite parenting behaviors. Parents are reminded that children can and should continue to improve in their mastery of the Emotion Detective skills after treatment. Parents, too, should to continue to practice the four opposite parenting behaviors. Parents are taught how to create a plan for sustaining and continuing progress (a progress plan) after treatment. The differences between a lapse and a relapse are outlined, and the warning signs of relapse and the need for further treatment are highlighted.

E Skill: Experience My Emotions

Chapter 10 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) reviews the concept of using science experiments to face strong emotions and introduces the idea of safety behaviors and subtle avoidance behaviors (e.g., distraction). In session, the children practice a science experiment to face strong emotions as a group (sample situational emotion exposure). The therapist works with the children and parents to make plans for future science experiments for facing strong emotions (individualized situational emotion exposures).

E Skill: Experience My Emotions

Chapter 8 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) focuses on emotional awareness by teaching a new Emotion Detective skill to experience feelings while learning three present-moment awareness steps— learning to pay attention to what is going on in the present moment without thinking about the past or the future, experiencing feelings without avoiding them or doing something to make them go away, and beginning to approach or face things or situations the child has been avoiding in the past because they make the child feel scared, sad, angry, or worried. Child clients practice these present-moment awareness steps using their five senses, and they also learn about and practice non-judgmental awareness.

C Skill: Consider How I Feel

Chapter 2 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) presents the different emotions and teaches that emotions are normal, natural, and harmless. The “Emotion Thermometer” is first introduced, as a tool to indicate the strength of an emotion. Children learn more about the three parts of an emotion as well as how the parts of emotions work together to sometimes lead to less helpful actions. The chapter ends with discussing rewards for new behaviors.

Experience My Emotions for Parents

Chapter 16 covers a number of sessions, all of which focus on teaching parents to help their children experience their emotions without using unhelpful emotional behaviors. Session 8 teaches parents to understand the importance of experiencing emotions rather than avoiding or suppressing them. Parents learn about and practice present-moment awareness and non-judgmental awareness. In Session 9, parents learn about situational emotion exposures as a different type of science experiment, as well as their role in helping their child practice exposures at home. This session also covers the emotional parenting behavior of excessive modeling of intense emotions and avoidance and the opposite parenting behavior of healthy emotional modeling. Session 10 teaches about using situational emotion exposure to face various strong emotions. During Session 10 parents also learn about safety behaviors and how to reduce their child’s use of them. Importantly, this session teaches parents how to use their opposite parenting behaviors to support their children during situational emotion exposures. In Sessions 11 through 14, parents learn what to expect as their child begins situational emotion exposures and how to manage common challenges that arise during exposure activities.

U Skill: Use Detective Thinking and Problem Solving

Chapter 7 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) introduces the skill of problem solving with a non-emotional example, or the “Problem Solving Game.” Child clients practice problem solving using increasingly personally-relevant scenarios, such as those with friends and family members.

L Skill: Look At My Thoughts

Chapter 5 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) teaches what it means to be a flexible thinker. Child clients learn to recognize common “thinking traps” such as jumping to conclusions, mind reading, thinking the worst, and ignoring the positive.

C Skill: Consider How I Feel

Chapter 4 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) introduces the concept of “body clues” (physiological sensations) and when they happen. Child clients are taught body scanning and begin to use it to help identify their own body clues, including practicing experiencing body clues without using avoidance or distraction.

Consider How I Feel for Parents

Chapter 13 covers four sessions. In Session 1, parents learn about the structure of the UP-C treatment, the three-component model of emotions, and the cycle of avoidance. In Session 2, parents learn how to connect their child’s emotional experiences and the parents’ own reactions. They learn about four emotional parenting behaviors and learn how to decrease criticism and use positive reinforcement. Session 3 covers the concept of acting opposite to an emotional behavior. This session covers ways parents can reinforce positive behaviors or effective attempts at coping. Session 4 focuses on how children express and experience emotions in their bodies. Parents are taught to help children scan their bodies to become aware of body sensations. Parents learn about sensational exposures and the importance of supporting their children in completing them at home. Parents learn about the opposite parenting behavior of expressing empathy when children are struggling with strong emotions.

E Skill: Experience My Emotions

Chapter 9 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) introduces emotion exposure. The children review Emotion Detective skills learned to date in the UP-C, including the concepts of emotional behaviors and “acting opposite,” in preparation for a new type of science experiment called “exposure.” In session, the child clients complete a demonstration of an exposure using a toy or other object. The session ends with the therapist working together with children and parents to finalize Emotional Behavior forms.