Psychological therapy based on CBT principles is effective in reducing anxiety symptoms for short-term treatment of GAD .
The body of evidence comparing CBT with other psychological therapies is small and heterogeneous , which precludes drawing conclusions about which psychological therapy is more effective .
BACKGROUND Generalised anxiety disorder ( GAD ) is a highly prevalent condition , characterised by excessive worry or anxiety about everyday events and problems .
The effectiveness and effectiveness of psychological therapies as a group has not yet been evaluated in the treatment of GAD .
OBJECTIVES To examine the efficacy and acceptability of psychological therapies , categorised as cognitive behavioural therapy ( CBT ) , psychodynamic therapy and supportive therapy , compared with treatment as usual/waiting list ( TAU/WL ) and compared with one another , for patients with GAD .
Recovery rates in generalized anxiety disorder following psychological therapy: an analysis of clinically significant change in the STAI-T across outcome studies since 1990.
BACKGROUND There have been six r and omized controlled trials of psychological therapy with generalized anxiety disorder ( GAD ) using DSM-III-R and DSM-IV . All have used the Trait version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory ( STAI-T ) as one of several outcome measures . Each study , however , employed different methods of calculating the clinical significance of outcomes making it difficult to reach a balanced appraisal of the efficacy of psychological treatment . METHODS Raw data on STAI-T scores at pre- , post- and follow-up were obtained for each of the six studies ( total N = 404 ) . Jacobson methodology for defining clinical ly significant change ( criterion c , reliable change index = 8 , cut-off point = 46 ) was used to allocate each patient to one of four outcomes : worse , unchanged , improved and recovered . The proportion of patients in each category was calculated for treatment conditions in each study and also for aggregate data across types of treatment . RESULTS A recovery rate of 40 % was found for the sample as a whole with 12 of the 20 treatment conditions obtaining very modest recovery rates of 30 % or less . Two treatment approaches -- individual cognitive behavioural therapy and applied relaxation -- do relatively well with overall recovery rates at 6-month follow-up of 50 - 60 % . CONCLUSIONS Jacobson methodology , in distinguishing between improvement and recovery on a st and ardized measure of general vulnerability to anxiety , provides a stringent but clinical ly more meaningful evaluation of the efficacy of psychological therapies with GAD than has been available hitherto . Systematic focus on either excessive worry or physiological arousal gives worthwhile results
Psychological therapy based on CBT principles is effective in reducing anxiety symptoms for short-term treatment of GAD .
The body of evidence comparing CBT with other psychological therapies is small and heterogeneous , which precludes drawing conclusions about which psychological therapy is more effective .
BACKGROUND Generalised anxiety disorder ( GAD ) is a highly prevalent condition , characterised by excessive worry or anxiety about everyday events and problems .
The effectiveness and effectiveness of psychological therapies as a group has not yet been evaluated in the treatment of GAD .
OBJECTIVES To examine the efficacy and acceptability of psychological therapies , categorised as cognitive behavioural therapy ( CBT ) , psychodynamic therapy and supportive therapy , compared with treatment as usual/waiting list ( TAU/WL ) and compared with one another , for patients with GAD .