Psychotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psychotherapy, including details on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, methods, outcomes.

A meta-analytic review of adult cognitive-behavioral treatment outcome across the anxiety disorders.

Norton PJ, Price EC

Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5022, USA.

The efficacy of cognitive behavioral treatments (CBT) for anxiety in adults has been supported by multiple meta-analyses. However, most have focused on only 1 diagnosis, thereby disallowing diagnostic comparisons. This study examined the efficacy of CBT across the anxiety disorders. One hundred eight trials of CBT for an anxiety disorder met study criteria. Cognitive therapy and exposure therapy alone, in combination, or combined with relaxation training, were efficacious across the anxiety disorders, with no differential efficacy for any treatment components for any specific diagnoses. However, when comparing across diagnoses, outcomes for generalized anxiety disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder were superior to those for social anxiety disorder, but no other differences emerged. CBT effects were superior to those for no-treatment and expectancy control treatments, although tentative evidence suggested equal effects of CBT when compared with relaxation-only treatments.

Published 14 June 2007 in J Nerv Ment Dis, 195(6): 521-31.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Psychotherapy Research Today. All Rights Reserved.