title: Internet-based guided self-help for several anxiety disorders: a randomized controlled trial comparing a tailored with a standardized disorder-specific approach.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Freie Universitaet Berlin.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boettcher
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caspar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001317:Austria; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014850:Waiting Lists; D055815:Young Adult