Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy for Heterogeneous Anxiety and Mood Disorders in a Psychiatric Hospital Outpatient Clinic

Abstract

Recent literature has shown that group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for individuals with heterogeneous anxiety disorders. However, these studies have used a narrow range of outcome measures, and have not included global measures such as quality of life. In addition, heterogeneous mood disorders have not been well researched. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend on previous studies by assessing the effectiveness of group CBT treatment programs designed for use with heterogeneous anxiety or depressive disorders. Global outcome measures of quality of life and social functioning were assessed in addition to outcome measures of anxiety and mood symptoms. There were 173 patients who completed either group CBT for anxiety disorders or for depressive disorders. Symptom measures and quality of life measures were used to determine treatment effectiveness. Results demonstrated that the treatments were effective in reducing overall symptom severity and improving quality of life. Treatment gains were maintained to 12 month follow-up. However, the degree of change was considerably lower than that found in comparable trials with diagnostically homogenous samples. Overall, group CBT for heterogeneous diagnostic populations was effective but requires further investigation and refinement.

Toward a Unified Treatment for Emotional Disorders: Update on the Science and Practice

“…In a clinical practice setting, the Oei research team has been working on the potential effectiveness of transdiagnostic group CBT for heterogeneous anxiety or depression, with two published open trials supporting the treatments (Dwyer, Olsen, & Oei, 2013;Oei & Boschen, 2009). Interestingly, Dwyer and colleagues (2013) noted changes in treatment were not as pronounced as those with diagnosis-specific groups, suggesting that further refinement of their treatment may be needed.…”

“…achieved reductions in panic symptoms with a medium effect size and another, using an acceptance-based behavioral treatment (Dalrymple et al, 2014) Continued work of translating lab findings into more practice-based (Dwyer et al, 2013;Oei & Boschen, 2009) and primary care facilities (Ejeby et al, 2014;Roy-Byrne et al, 2010) will also be beneficial in the effort to move towards dissemination of transdiagnostic treatments.…”

Positive effects of Individual Cognitive Behavior Therapy for patients with unipolar mood disorders with suicidal ideation in Malaysia: A randomised controlled trial

“…Both versions (English and Malay) were used for this study. Previous studies using this manual showed to be effective in the treatment of patients with mood disorders (Dwyer, et al, 2013;Furlong and Oei, 2002;Oei and Shuttlewood, 1997;Oei and Yeoh, 1999). The manual provides a total of 8 detailed GCBT sessions, which includes short lectures on specific topics, class 9 activities and homework tasks.…”

“…Mukthar, et al, (2011) used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) as the depressive measure and reported significant improvement in the depressive symptoms in her GCBT+TAU for depression. In addition, Dwyer et al, 2013 reported significant improvement in the depressive symptom using the Zung Self Rating Depression Scale (Zung-SDS) in GCBT in the treatment of depression. For the suicide ideation,…”

“…Individual cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) had been the main type of treatment in treating patients with depression especially depressed outpatients with no psychotic or melancholic features (Warman et al, 2005). In addition, group cognitive behavior therapy had shown to be at least, if not more effective than individual cognitive behavior therapy (Dwyer et al, 2013;Nyer et al, 2016;Oei and Dingle, 2007;Warman et al, 2005;Zettle et al, 1992).…”