An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Transdiagnostic Bibliotherapy Program for Anxiety and Related Disorders: Results From Two Studies Using a Benchmarking Approach

This study investigated the effectiveness of a transdiagnostic BCBT intervention in two open trials. While the BCBT intervention in both studies were identical, the first study was unguided (i.e., no clinician support provided), and the second study was guided (i.e., patients were provided with brief clinician support via telephone). Twenty-three participants with mixed anxiety disorders completed the first Study (unguided treatment) and results exhibited significant reductions on the primary outcome measure with within-group effect sizes ofd = 1.29 (95% CI 0.64–1.91) at post-treatment andd = 1.52 (95% CI 0.84–2.15) at 3-month follow up. Forty-one participants with various anxiety and related disorders completed Study 2 (guided intervention) and results were similar to Study 1 with large within-group effect sizes seen at post-treatment (d = 0.95; 95% CI 0.49–1.40) and 3-month follow up (d = 0.87; 95% CI 0.41–1.31). In both studies participants found the intervention to be highly acceptable, and benchmarking analyses indicated that the outcomes were largely consistent with those of controlled trials. These are the first studies to investigate the effectiveness of a transdiagnos tic BCBT program for the treatment of anxiety and related disorders and the results demonstrate preliminary support for this treatment methodology.
Source: Cognitive Therapy and Research - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research