Behavioral activation and experiential avoidance are considered closely related transdiagnostic constructs. Decreases in behavioral activation and increases in avoidance are both thought to play a role in the maintenance of emotional disorder symptoms. Using a series of random intercept cross-lagged panel models, this study examined the temporal relations between change in behavioral activation, experiential avoidance, and anxiety symptoms during outpatient administration of the Unified Protocol. Between-person results demonstrated that greater avoidance was associated with lower activation, and more severe anxiety symptoms were associated with both greater avoidance and lower activation. Within-person results suggested that improvements in avoidance tended to predict increased activation and decreased anxiety symptoms. Changes in activation did not substantially predict changes in avoidance or anxiety. Overall, these results provide preliminary information on the timing of important therapeutic processes and may shed light on how clinicians should prioritize targets.

行为激活和经验回避被认为是密切相关的跨诊断结构。行为激活的减少和回避的增加都被认为在情绪障碍症状的维持中发挥着作用。本研究使用一系列随机截距交叉滞后面板模型，检查了统一方案门诊给药期间行为激活变化、体验性回避和焦虑症状之间的时间关系。人与人之间的结果表明，更大的回避与较低的激活相关，而更严重的焦虑症状与更大的回避和较低的激活相关。内部研究结果表明，回避的改善往往预示着激活的增加和焦虑症状的减少。激活的变化并不能显着预测回避或焦虑的变化。总体而言，这些结果提供了有关重要治疗过程的时间安排的初步信息，并可能为临床医生应如何优先考虑目标提供启示。