The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety-related disorders based on randomized placebo-controlled trials. We included 41 studies that randomly assigned patients (N = 2,843) with acute stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder (PD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or social anxiety disorder (SAD) to CBT or a psychological or pill placebo condition. Findings demonstrated moderate placebo-controlled effects of CBT on target disorder symptoms (Hedges' g = 0.56), and small to moderate effects on other anxiety symptoms (Hedges' g = 0.38), depression (Hedges' g = 0.31), and quality of life (Hedges' g = 0.30). Response rates in CBT compared to placebo were associated with an odds ratio of 2.97. Effects on the target disorder were significantly stronger for completer samples than intent-to-treat samples, and for individuals compared to group CBT in SAD and PTSD studies. Large effect sizes were found for OCD, GAD, and acute stress disorder, and small to moderate effect sizes were found for PTSD, SAD, and PD. In PTSD studies, dropout rates were greater in CBT (29.0%) compared to placebo (17.2%), but no difference in dropout was found across other disorders. Interventions primarily using exposure strategies had larger effect sizes than those using cognitive or cognitive and behavioral techniques, though this difference did not reach significance. Findings demonstrate that CBT is a moderately efficacious treatment for anxiety disorders when compared to placebo. More effective treatments are especially needed for PTSD, SAD, and PD.

Despite the popularity of emotion regulation in the contemporary literature, research has almost exclusively focused on only intrapersonal processes, whereas much less attention has been placed in interpersonal emotion regulation processes. In order to encourage research on interpersonal emotion regulation, we present a series of 4 studies to develop the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ). The final scale consists of 20 items with 4 factors containing 5 items each. The 4 factors are: Enhancing Positive Affect; Perspective Taking; Soothing; and Social Modeling. The scale shows excellent psychometric characteristics. Implications for future research are discussed.

For decades the development of evidence-based therapy has been based on experimental tests of protocols designed to impact psychiatric syndromes. As this paradigm weakens, a more process-based therapy approach is rising in its place, focused on how to best target and change core biopsychosocial processes in specific situations for given goals with given clients. This is an inherently more idiographic question than has normally been at issue in evidence-based therapy. In this article we explore methods of assessment and analysis that can integrate idiographic and nomothetic approaches in a process-based era. PBT and the Individual 4 The Role of the Individual in the Coming Era of Process-Based Therapy Questioning assumptions in science is disruptive. Within a defined area of study, a priori analytic assumptions provide the scaffolding for which questions are asked, which methods are used, and which data are deemed relevant. Professionals often view questions, methods, and analytic units simply as the required tools of good science-not reflections of assumptions-and as a result there can be a sense of disorientation when times of upheaval arrive and assumptions are pointed out and critically examined. So it is today within the domain of mental health, and the intervention science linked to it. For decades is has been assumed that a satisfactory field of evidence-based treatment could emerge based on adequate experimental tests of protocols focused on psychiatric syndromes. This protocols for syndromes era had a coherent set of key strategic assumptions built into its scientific and public health strategy-but every one of them is now being openly questioned. At the same time, a powerful alternative strategic agenda is emerging that echoes some of the process-based and idiographic assumptions of the earliest days of behavioral research, as well as the therapy based upon it. We are reminded of that history by the very name of this, the oldest of all of the applied behavioral journals. However, revitalization of the study of change processes that apply idiographically is not a mere repeat of the past, since it encompasses questions, methods, and data that are distinct and new (Hayes & Hofmann, 2017, 2018; Hofmann & Hayes, 2018).

No abstract

BACKGROUND Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the two first-line treatments for depression, but little is known about their effects on quality of life. AIMS To investigate the efficacy of these two interventions for depression on quality of life (QOL). METHOD A meta-analysis was conducted to examine changes in QOL in adults with major depressive disorder who received CBT (24 studies examining 1,969 patients) or SSRI treatment (13 studies examining 4,286 patients) for their depression. RESULTS Moderate improvements in QOL from pre to post-treatment were observed in both CBT (Hedges’ g = 0.63) and SSRI (Hedges’ g = 0.79) treatments. The effect size remained stable over the course of the follow-up period for CBT. No data were available to examine follow-ups in the SSRI group. QOL effect sizes decreased linearly with publication year, and greater improvements in depression were significantly associated with greater improvement in QOL for CBT, but not for SSRIs. CONCLUSION CBT and SSRIs for depression were both associated with moderate improvements in QOL, but are possibly caused by different mechanisms.