Simona Stefan1, Ioana A Cristea1, Aurora Szentagotai Tatar1, Daniel David2,3. 1. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 2. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy/International Institute for the Advanced Study of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, Babeş-Bolyai University, No 37 Republicii Street, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 3. Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is considered the "golden standard" psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) but, at this point, we have little information about differences among various CBT approaches. METHOD: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare three CBT protocols for GAD: (a) Cognitive Therapy/Borkovec's treatment package; (b) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, and (c) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Acceptance-based behavioral therapy. A number of 75 patients diagnosed with GAD, aged between 20 and 51 (m = 27.13; standard deviation = 7.50), 60 women and 11 men, were randomized to the three treatment arms. RESULTS: All treatments were associated with large pre-post intervention reductions in GAD symptoms and dysfunctional automatic thoughts, with no significant differences between groups. Correlation analyses showed similar associations between changes in symptoms and changes in dysfunctional automatic thoughts. CONCLUSIONS: All three approaches appear to be similarly effective. Implications for the theoretical models underlying each of the three cognitive-behavior therapy approaches are discussed.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is considered the "golden standard" psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) but, at this point, we have little information about differences among various CBT approaches. METHOD: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare three CBT protocols for GAD: (a) Cognitive Therapy/Borkovec's treatment package; (b) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, and (c) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Acceptance-based behavioral therapy. A number of 75 patients diagnosed with GAD, aged between 20 and 51 (m = 27.13; standard deviation = 7.50), 60 women and 11 men, were randomized to the three treatment arms. RESULTS: All treatments were associated with large pre-post intervention reductions in GAD symptoms and dysfunctional automatic thoughts, with no significant differences between groups. Correlation analyses showed similar associations between changes in symptoms and changes in dysfunctional automatic thoughts. CONCLUSIONS: All three approaches appear to be similarly effective. Implications for the theoretical models underlying each of the three cognitive-behavior therapy approaches are discussed.