BACKGROUND:Best practice guidelines recommend CBT for everyone with psychosis, yet high rates of non-engagement and early drop-out result in many not receiving 'full dose' therapy. For those who do engage, effect sizes are typically modest. Most people with psychosis have an insecure attachment style, characterised by predictable and problematic patterns of beliefs, emotion regulation and interpersonal behaviours, including help-seeking. Attachment-congruent adaptations to CBT could improve retention and recovery outcomes for people who are also insecurely attached. AIMS:This is the first evaluation of attachment-congruent adaptations to CBT for psychosis. We assessed impact of therapy for the first five people (aged 30-50) to complete therapy and measures. METHOD:We used a single case ABC design and measured paranoia, voices, help-seeking, coping, and personal goals over baseline, intervention, and follow-up phases. We predicted that adapted CBT would lead to improved outcomes which would be maintained at follow-up. Trait measures of voices, paranoia, attachment, and recovery are used to describe the sample. RESULTS:Participants presented with complex needs, including paranoia, voices, and attachment insecurity. Baseline phases showed high and variable levels of psychosis. All showed improvements in paranoia, voices, willingness to seek help, ability to cope, and/or personal recovery goals over the intervention phase. Gains were largely maintained or improved further at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS:Attachment-congruent adaptations to CBT are likely to benefit people with psychosis who present with the additional cognitive, affective and behavioural complexities characteristic of insecure attachment, which threaten access and impact of recommended treatments if not addressed.
OBJECTIVE:Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-Ten (CBT-T) offers a briefer manualised approach to treatment of non-underweight eating disorders (EDs) compared with traditional therapy models, and has the potential to help services deliver timely access to care. This study evaluated CBT-T outcomes in a naturalistic setting, with a focus on session-by-session change patterns. METHOD:A total of 151 young adults received CBT-T in a no-threshold-to-access community ED service. Symptom trajectories were assessed using the ED-15 global scale and subscales (eating concern, weight/shape concern). Using intent-to-treat principle, linear mixed-effect models evaluated treatment effectiveness, and chi-squared and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses explored associations between early symptom change and end-of-treatment remission. RESULTS:Treatment led to significant reductions in ED symptoms and psychosocial impairment, with large effect sizes. Reliable improvement in Weight/Shape Concern - but not Eating Concern - on ED-15 at session 4 significantly predicted ED symptom scores below the clinical cut-off at the last session. CONCLUSIONS:CBT-T is effective in reducing ED symptoms in young adults with non-underweight EDs. While engagement and progress prior to session 4 have been used to guide treatment planning, as stated in the treatment manual, only the change in weight/shape concern at session 4 appeared to be strongly predictive of outcome in this sample, whereas change in eating concern did not. Early changes in weight and shape concerns at initial sessions may be informative in predicting treatment outcome. The findings can support the future development of CBT-T and other brief ED interventions.
BACKGROUND:Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the first-line treatment for anxiety and related disorders. Limited research has explored long-term outcomes following CBT for anxiety-related disorders in naturalistic settings, particularly for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). AIMS:This study examined long-term outcomes and attrition after group CBT for GAD, SAD, and PTSD in a naturalistic sample. Across disorders, it was hypothesized that gains would be maintained long-term, with a gradual return of clinically relevant symptoms observed at later follow-up points. METHOD:Data were collected from individuals completing CBT at a tertiary anxiety treatment clinic. Symptom changes pre- to post-treatment and over a 2-year follow-up were examined, as well as the influence of baseline depressive symptoms on change over time. Worry, social anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms were assessed at pre- and post-treatment and 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months. RESULTS:On average, symptom improvements were maintained over the 2-year follow-up for all disorders. Higher pre-treatment depression was associated with greater symptom severity throughout the study but generally did not affect the magnitude of symptom change. The exception was PTSD, where baseline depression was also associated with changes in symptom severity across the whole study period. This effect was not observed for those with SAD and GAD. Attrition was high across the follow-up period. CONCLUSION:This study provides preliminary evidence for the long-term efficacy of CBT in a naturalistic setting. It also highlights challenges with retaining clients in long-term follow-up in naturalistic settings.
BACKGROUND:Panic disorder occurs in 1-3% of adolescents and without treatment often has a chronic course. Treatments need to be effective and efficient to be delivered in routine services. Given that a brief version of cognitive therapy has been shown to be effective in adults, an adapted version could be beneficial for adolescents with panic disorder. AIMS:We aimed to establish clinical and economic proof-of-concept for brief cognitive therapy for adolescent panic disorder and examine the feasibility of a future definitive trial compared with a brief generic form of CBT, using several well-defined criteria. METHOD:Thirty-four young people (aged 12-17 years) meeting diagnostic criteria for panic disorder and attending a routine clinical service, were randomly allocated to receive either brief cognitive therapy (B-CT) or a brief generic form of CBT; both involved five treatment sessions and up to two booster sessions and were delivered by Children's Wellbeing Practitioners. We examined patient outcomes, expectations, and experiences, as well as health economic factors post-treatment and at 3-month follow-up. We also explored panic severity 12 months after treatment completion. RESULTS:The trial met feasibility and acceptability criteria in relation to recruitment and there were no serious concerns around acceptability of treatment and trial procedures. CONCLUSIONS:This study provides preliminary evidence that both B-CT and a generic form of CBT are associated with positive outcomes, expectations, and experiences for adolescents, parents/carers and clinicians. However, there appear to be additional benefits from B-CT that are worthy of evaluation in a future definitive RCT.
BACKGROUND:The United Kingdom's Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression (TTAD) programme provides standardised definitions for recovery-related outcomes, allowing transparent and comparable reporting. This study aimed to descriptively examine recovery-related outcomes following cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in a Japanese clinical sample using established TTAD definitions. METHOD:Data were drawn from patients who received CBT in routine clinical practice. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire, respectively. Recovery, reliable improvement, and reliable recovery were classified according to the TTAD criteria. RESULTS:The sample consisted of 241 participants, of whom 178 (73.9%) met the criteria for caseness at baseline. Among those with baseline caseness, 75 participants (42.1%) met the criteria for recovery at the end of treatment. Across the full sample, 103 participants (47.2%) demonstrated reliable improvement. Reliable recovery, defined as meeting the criteria for both recovery and reliable improvement, was observed in 65 participants (36.5% of those with baseline caseness). CONCLUSIONS:Using standardised TTAD definitions, this study provides a descriptive account of recovery-related outcomes following CBT in routine clinical practice in Japan. The findings show the distribution of recovery and improvement outcomes in this sample and highlight the importance of clearly distinguishing between recovery-related indicators when interpreting outcomes in real-world clinical settings.
