How important it is to take into account the type of effect size when appraising the magnitude of effect can be seen from a different meta-analysis that calculated uncontrolled pre- to post-treatment effect sizes.9. That meta-analysis reported an effect size of 1.53 for CBT in panic disorder. Figure 1. Average effect size estimates and corresponding 95% confidence intervals of the acute treatment efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy as compared with placebo on the various anxiety disorders for the primary continuous anxiety measure (dark blue bars) … Effectiveness Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Several studies

examined the effectiveness of CBT in panic disorder.11 The calculated uncontrolled pre- to post-treatment effect size was 1.01 (95% CI 0.77-1.25) for panic attacks and 0.83 (95% CI 0.60-1.06) for avoidance. Generalized anxiety disorder Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Generalized anxiety disorder is marked by excessive and uncontrollable worry. It is believed to be maintained by cognitive (selleck chemicals attention and judgment) biases toward threat-relevant stimuli and the use of worry (and associated tension) and overly

cautious behaviors as a means to avoid catastrophic images and associated autonomic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical arousal.8 CBT of generalized anxiety disorder involves cognitive therapy to address worry and cognitive biases and relaxation to address tension, as well as imaginal exposure to catastrophic images and exposure to stressful situations while response preventing overly cautious behaviors. Efficacy Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The controlled effect size for CBT in generalized anxiety disorder was 0.51 (95% CI 0.05-0.97), indicating a

medium effect (Figure 1) although only two studies using a randomized controlled design to examine CBT treatment in patients with generalized anxiety disorder were available. Nevertheless, these results were recently corroborated by a Cochrane meta-analysis Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical examining psychological treatments of generalized anxiety disorder.14 Based on thirteen studies, the authors concluded that psychological therapies, all using a CBT approach, were more effective than treatment as usual or wait list control Cilengitide in achieving clinical response at post-treatment (RR 0.64, 95% CI 0.55-0.74). However, those studies examining CBT against supportive therapy (nondirective therapy and attention-placebo conditions) did not find a significant difference in clinical response between CBT and supportive therapy at post-treatment (RR 0.86, 95%CI 0.70 to 1.06). Again, the meta-analysis calculating uncontrolled pre- to post-treatment effect sizes found much a larger overall effect size of 1.80. 9 Effectiveness In eleven effectiveness studies, the pre- to post-treatment effect size for CBT in generalized anxiety disorder was 0.92 (95% CI 0.77-1.07). Social anxiety disorder Social anxiety disorder (or social phobia) is characterized by marked fear of performance, excessive fear of scrutiny, and fear of acting in a way that may be embarrassing.