Monday, 16 March 2020

Dose‐response patterns in low and high intensity cognitive behavioral therapy for common mental health problems

an article by Louisa Robinson, Stephen Kellett and Jaime Delgadillo (University of Sheffield, UK) published in Depression and Anxiety Volume 37 Issue 3 (March 2020)

Abstract

Background
Cognitive‐behavioural therapy (CBT) is effective for the treatment of common mental health problems, but the number of sessions required to maximise improvement in routine care remains unclear.

Aim
This study aimed to examine the dose‐response effect in low (LiCBT) and high (HiCBT) intensity CBT delivered in stepped care services.

Methods
A multi‐service data set included N = 102 206 patients across N = 16 services. The study included patients with case‐level depression and/or anxiety symptoms who accessed LiCBT and/or HiCBT. Patients with post-treatment reliable and clinically significant improvement in standardised outcome measures (PHQ‐9, GAD‐7) were classified as treatment responders. Survival analyses assessed the number of sessions necessary to detect 50%, 75%, and 95% of treatment responders. The 50% and 95% percentiles were used to define the lower and upper boundaries of an adequate dose of therapy that could be used to inform the timing of treatment progress reviews. Analyses were then stratified by diagnosis, and cox regression was used to identify predictors of time‐to‐remission.

Results
Most responders (95%) attained RCSI within 7 sessions of LiCBT and 14 sessions of HiCBT. Patients with social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and obsessive‐compulsive disorder required HiCBT and lengthier treatments (6–16 sessions) to maximize improvement.

Conclusions
Distinctive dose‐response patterns are evident for LiCBT and HiCBT, which can be used to support treatment planning and routine outcome monitoring.

Labels:
anxiety, CBT, cognitive_behavioural_therapy, depression, dose-response,


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