The following is a summary of “Concentrated transdiagnostic and cross-disciplinary micro-choice based group treatment for patients with depression and with anxiety leads to lasting improvements after 12 months: a pilot study,” published in the May 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Wilhelmsen-Langeland et al.
Previous research found that a specific group treatment for depression and anxiety led to symptom reduction and improved functioning at 3-month follow-up.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study assessing the outcome of this treatment at a 12-month follow-up period.
They conducted a non-randomized pilot study following a published protocol. About 67 patients (19-47, mean age 32.5±8.0) completed treatment. All had severe symptoms requiring specialist mental health care. Self-reported age at onset of symptoms was 17.6 (SD=7.9) years and previous treatment courses averaged around 3.5 (SD=3.3, range 0-20). Treatment effectiveness was assessed using multiple questionnaires at pre-treatment, 7 days, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up.
The results showed that validated measures of functional impairment (WSAS), depression (PHQ9), anxiety (GAD7), worry (PSWQ), fatigue (CFQ), insomnia (BIS), and illness perception (BIPQ) significantly improved from pre-treatment to 12 months (P<0.0005), with mainly large to extremely large effect sizes (0.89-3.68) and some moderate (0.60-0.76). At 12 months, 74% reported improvement in anxiety and depression, and 70% reduced or stopped mental health care utilization at 12 months.
Investigators concluded that the focused group treatment led to a significant and lasting reduction in symptoms, noticeable as early as one week after treatment and continuing through the 12-month follow-up.
Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-05786-0#Abs1
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