title: Relative effects of cognitive and behavioral therapies on generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder and panic disorder: A meta-analysis.
abstract: Although cognitive and behavioral therapies are effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders, it is not clear what the relative effects of these treatments are. We conducted a meta-analysis of trials comparing cognitive and behavioral therapies with a control condition, in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder. We included 42 studies in which generic measures of anxiety were used (BAI, HAMA, STAI-State and Trait). Only the effects of treatment for panic disorder as measured on the BAI (13.33 points; 95% CI: 10.58-16.07) were significantly (p=0.001) larger than the effect sizes on GAD (6.06 points; 95% CI: 3.96-8.16) and SAD (5.92 points; 95% CI: 4.64-7.20). The effects remained significant after adjusting for baseline severity and other major characteristics of the trials. The results should be considered with caution because of the small number of studies in many subgroups and the high risk of bias in most studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands; EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.cuijpers@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Pim
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cuijpers
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gentili
authors.affiliation: Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatments, Valencia, Spain; Ciber Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CB06/03), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Banos
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychatry, Miguel Servet Hospital & University of Zaragoza, Red Investigación en Atención Primaria (REDIAPP), Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garcia-Campayo
authors.affiliation: Ciber Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CB06/03), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; Department of Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Botella
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Ioana A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Cristea
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Behavior therapy; Cognitive therapy; Generalized anxiety disorder; Meta-analysis; Panic disorder; Social anxiety disorder