Certain Variations of CBT Found as Effective as Individual CBT

This study suggests that group, telephone, and guided self-help treatments … may be considered as alternatives to individual CBT,” wrote Pim Cuijpers, Ph.D., of Vrije University in the Netherlands and colleagues. “Applying effective and acceptable CBT in a range of different formats will ma ke CBT easier to implement, disseminate, and deliver across different settings and diverse patient populations.”Cuijpers and colleagues used a technique known as a network meta-analysis to compare 155 clinical trials involving CBT for the treatment of depression. These trials included CBT delivered in individual, group, telephone-based, guided self-help (in which a therapist provides some assistance), and unguided self-help (no therapist contact) formats. The self-help categories grouped together both internet and non-internet (for example, book) delivery methods. These studies also included two types of control groups: usual care and wait list.The comparisons showed that individual, group, guided self-help, and telephone CBT were all statistically more effective than unguided self-help CBT, as well as wait-list and usual-care controls. No significant differences were found between individual, group, guided self-help, and telephone CBT.“Unguided self-help differs from the others in that it is the only modality that does not involve at least some contact with a helping person,” wrote Holly Swartz, M.D., and Jay Fournier, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine,...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: CBT cognitive-behavior therapy guided CBT JAMA Psychiatry Pim Cuijpers unguided CBT Source Type: research