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 .
Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural, person-centred and psychodynamic therapies as practised in UK National Health Service settings.
BACKGROUND Psychotherapy 's equivalence paradox is that treatments have equivalently positive outcomes despite non-equivalent theories and techniques . We compared the outcomes of contrasting approaches practised in routine care . METHOD Patients ( n = 1309 ) who received cognitive-behavioural therapy ( CBT ) , person-centred therapy ( PCT ) and psychodynamic therapy ( PDT ) at one of 58 National Health Service ( NHS ) primary and secondary care sites in the UK during a 3-year period completed the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation- Outcome Measure ( CORE-OM ) at the beginning and end of their treatment . Therapists indicated which treatment approaches were used on an End of Therapy form . We compared outcomes of six groups : three treated with CBT , PCT or PDT only , and three treated with one of these plus one additional approach ( e.g. integrative , supportive , art ) , design ated CBT+1 , PCT+1 or PDT+1 respectively . RESULTS All six groups averaged marked improvement ( pre-post effect size = 1.36 ) . Treatment approach and degree of purity ( ' only ' vs. ' + 1 ' ) each accounted for statistically significant but comparatively tiny proportions of the variance in CORE-OM scores ( respectively 1 % and 0.5 % as much as pre-post change ) . Distributions of change scores were largely overlapping . CONCLUSIONS Results for these three treatment approaches as practised routinely across a range of NHS setting s were generally consistent with previous findings that theoretically different approaches tend to have equivalent outcomes . Caution is warranted because of limited treatment specification , non-r and om assignment , lack of a control group , missing data and other issues
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 .