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 .
On predicting improvement and relapse in generalized anxiety disorder following psychotherapy.
This paper concerns an investigation of outcome predictors in a clinical trial of psychological therapies for generalized anxiety disorder . A variety of information of potential predictive value was obtained at three stages of patient contact : the initial referral , a screening interview and early sessions of therapy . Three measures of the clinical significance of change over a 12-month follow-up period were used to construct a composite measure which categorized outcome in terms of sustained improvement , relapse and no consistent change . Logistic regression was used to examine the validity of predictors identified in previous research and the relative importance of data obtained from the three different stages . Seventy-one per cent of patients were correctly classified as improved or not from initial data with a significant increase in accuracy with information from the screening interview ( 77 per cent ) and early sessions ( 82 per cent ) . Patients who relapsed or not were predicted with considerable accuracy from initial data ( 90 per cent ) and there was no significant increase in predictive power with additional information . The most powerful and robust predictors were : type of treatment received , marital status , marital tension and complexity of clinical presentation in terms of axis 1 co-morbidity . A conceptual framework for prediction is outlined
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 .