Internet-Based Guided Self-Help for Several Anxiety Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing a Tailored With a Standardized Disorder-Specific Approach

Berger, Thomas; Boettcher, Johanna; Caspar, Franz (2013). Internet-Based Guided Self-Help for Several Anxiety Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing a Tailored With a Standardized Disorder-Specific Approach. Psychotherapy, 51(2), pp. 207-219. American Psychological Association 10.1037/a0032527

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Internet-delivered self-help with minimal therapist guidance has shown promising results for a number of diagnoses. Most of the evidence comes from studies evaluating standardized disorder-specific treatments. A recent development in the field includes transdiagnostic and tailored Internet-based treatments that address comorbid symptoms and a broader range of patients. This study evaluated an Internet-based tailored guided self-help treatment, which targeted symptoms of social anxiety disorder, panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. The tailored treatment was compared both with standardized disorder-specific Internet-based treatment and with a wait-list control group. Both active treatment conditions were based on cognitive-behavioral therapy and lasted for 8 weeks. A total of 132 individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for at least one of the anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 conditions. Both treatment groups showed significant symptom reductions as compared with the wait-list control group on primary disorder-unspecific measures of anxiety, depression, and general symptomatology and on secondary anxiety disorder-specific measures. Based on the intention-to-treat sample, mean between-group effect sizes were d = 0.80 for the tailored treatment and d = 0.82 for the standardized treatment, versus wait-list controls. Treatment gains were maintained at 6-month follow-up. No differences were found between the 2 active treatment conditions on any of the measures, including a telephone-administered diagnostic interview conducted at posttreatment. The findings suggest that both Internet-based tailored guided self-help treatments and Internet-based standardized treatments are promising treatment options for several anxiety disorders

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy

UniBE Contributor:

Berger, Thomas (B), Caspar, Franz

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0033-3204

Publisher:

American Psychological Association

Funders:

[4] Swiss National Science Foundation

Language:

English

Submitter:

Thomas Berger

Date Deposited:

11 Apr 2014 16:25

Last Modified:

29 Mar 2023 23:33

Publisher DOI:

10.1037/a0032527

PubMed ID:

24041199

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.43657

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/43657

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