A Multifaith Spiritually Based Intervention Versus Supportive Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

ObjectivesWe have previously reported that a multifaith spiritually based intervention (SBI) may have efficacy in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This randomized pilot trial tested whether the SBI had greater efficacy than a nonspecific control condition in GAD.MethodTwenty-three participants with GAD of at least moderate severity were randomized to 12 individual sessions of the SBI (n = 11) or supportive psychotherapy (SP)—our control condition (n = 12).ResultsIntent-to-treat analysis revealed the SBI fared better than SP in decreasing blind clinician ratings of anxiety and illness severity and self-report worry and intolerance of uncertainty, with large between-group effect sizes. The SBI also produced greater changes in spiritual well-being. Results remained the same when supplementary analyses were performed on the completer sample. Treatment gains were maintained at 3-months follow-up.ConclusionsThis small pilot trial demonstrates that a nondenominational SBI has greater efficacy than a rigorous control in improving symptoms of GAD and enhancing spiritual well-being. These results are encouraging and further research on the efficacy of the SBI and its underlying mechanisms is warranted.

Influence of religious aspects and personal beliefs on psychological behavior: focus on anxiety disorders

“…This becomes even more important when considering that religious and spiritual themes could also have an impact on the psychotherapeutic treatment and outcome of psychiatric disorders in general and of OCD and anxiety disorders in particular 117,118. There have been studies that show the importance of personal and spiritual beliefs in the individual psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment 126–128. In a study by Shafranske and Malony,129 more than 60% of the patients expressed themselves through religious language.…”

“…Over the course of the psychotherapeutic treatment, R/S-specific topics, values, and norms are often in the forefront, having a great influence on diagnosis, etiology, treatment concepts, and therapeutic goals 1. R/S-sensitive psychotherapy might especially focus on the negative R/S cognitive assumptions (belief of being abandoned by God, etc) and give patients the opportunity to deal with their religious and spiritual struggles though an alternative kind of spiritual guidance 128. Clinicians should, thus, strive to obtain skills in the understanding of different R/S aspects, whereby an attitude of religious openness could result in individualized therapeutic objectives and methods that are adjusted for personal beliefs 1,121…”

Religiously integrated cognitive behavioral therapy: A new method of treatment for major depression in patients with chronic medical illness.

“…These include Spiritual Self-Schema therapy for treatment of addiction and HIV risk behavior (Avants & Margolin, 2004); mindfulness, an integration of Buddhist and Western psychological principles and practices used for the amelioration of psychological problems (e.g., Epstein, 1995; Rubin, 1996); mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002); and spiritual coping groups for those with HIV (Tarakeshwar, Pearce, & Sikkema, 2005), sexual abuse (Murray-Swank & Pargament, 2005), and cancer (Cole & Pargament, 1999). Spiritual interventions have been used for the treatment of generalized anxiety (Koszycki, Bilodeau, Raab-Mayo, & Bradwejn, in press; Koszycki, Raab, Aldosary, & Bradwein, 2010) and posttraumatic stress disorder (Bormann et al, 2006; Bormann, Thorp, Wetherell, Golshan, & Lang, 2013). …”

Intervenções espirituais e/ou religiosas na saúde: revisão sistemática e meta-análise de ensaios clínicos controlados

“…"espiritualidade AND grupo AND tratamento"; "religiosidade AND grupo AND tratamento"; "espiritualidade AND tratamento"; "religiosidade AND tratamento". (Fitzgibbon et al, 2005;Margolin et al, 2006;Djuric et al, 2009;Breitbart et al, 2010;Huguelet et al, 2011;Breitbart et al, 2012;Koszycki et al, 2013;Lloyd-Williams et al, 2013;Piderman et al, 2013), sete educacionais (Miller et al, 2005;Morita et al, 2009;Bowland et al, 2012; Bukhart e Schmidt, 2012; Jafari Jafari et al, 2013;Wingood et al, 2013) e uma avaliando ambas (Kelly et al, 2011).…”

“…Assim como a revisão de Moreira-Almeida et al (2006), outros estudos recentes realizados no Brasil também demonstraram a relação entre menor prevalência de depressão em pessoas mais religiosas (Lucchetti et al, 2011, Lucchetti et al, 2012 Encontraram melhora significativa na redução da ansiedade após três meses de tratamento, sem diferença quando reavaliados após seis meses (Azhar et al, 1994). Outros estudos suportam uma relação inversamente proporcional entre níveis de E/R e de ansiedade (Rosmarin et al, 2010;Hosseini et al, 2013Koszycki et al, 2013 Entretanto, alguns trabalhos mais antigos não encontraram relação entre esses índices (Baker e Gorsuch, 1982).…”