Disorders - Anxiety Disorders
Cropley, M., Banks, A. P., Boyle, J.
This trial evaluated the impact of a Rhodiola rosea L. extract on self-reported anxiety, stress, cognition, and other mood symptoms. Eighty
mildly anxious participants were randomized into two different groups of either Rhodiola rosea L (2?×?200 mg dose Vitano®, 1 tablet taken before
breakfast and 1tablet before lunch) or a control condition (no treatment). Self-report measures and cognitive tests were completed at four testing
sessions over a period of 14 days. Relative to the controls, the experimental group demonstrated a significant reduction in self-reported, anxiety,
stress, anger, confusion and depression at 14 days and a significant improvements in total mood. No relevant differences in cognitive performance
between the groups were observed. Rhodiola rosea L (Vitano®) presented a favourable safety tolerability profile. Although this was a non-placebo
controlled trial, it is unlikely that the findings were the result of placebo effects as changes appeared gradual and were specific to certain
psychological measures. However, we cannot determine a causal relationship; further investigations are recommended to support the effects of Rhodiola
rosea L. extract on stress related symptoms.; Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Phytotherapy Research, 29(12) : 1934-1939
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative
Interventions (CAM), Homeopathic, plant-based medicines
Clerkin, E. M., Beard, C, Fisher, C. R., Schofield, C. A.
Our goals in the present study were to test an adaptation of a Cognitive Bias Modification program to reduce anxiety sensitivity, and
to evaluate the causal relationships between interpretation bias of physiological cues, anxiety sensitivity, and anxiety and avoidance associated
with interoceptive exposures. Participants with elevated anxiety sensitivity who endorsed having a panic attack or limited symptom attack were
randomly assigned to either an Interpretation Modification Program (IMP; n = 33) or a Control (n = 32) condition. During interpretation modification
training (via the Word Sentence Association Paradigm), participants read short sentences describing ambiguous panic-relevant physiological and
cognitive symptoms and were trained to endorse benign interpretations and reject threatening interpretations associated with these cues. Compared to
the Control condition, IMP training successfully increased endorsements of benign interpretations and decreased endorsements of threatening
interpretations at visit 2. Although self-reported anxiety sensitivity decreased from pre-selection to visit 1 and from visit 1 to visit 2, the
reduction was not larger for the experimental versus control condition. Further, participants in IMP (vs. Control) training did not experience less
anxiety and avoidance associated with interoceptive exposures. In fact, there was some evidence that those in the Control condition experienced less
avoidance following training. Potential explanations for the null findings, including problems with the benign panic-relevant stimuli and limitations
with the control condition, are discussed.;
PLoS ONE, 10(2) : e0114578-
e0114578
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Attention/cognitive bias
modification
Conley, C. S., Durlak, J. A., Kirsch, A. C.
This meta-analysis investigated the effectiveness of universal mental health prevention programs for higher
education students on a range of adjustment outcomes. A systematic literature search identified 103 controlled published and unpublished
interventions involving college, graduate, or professional students. As hypothesized, skill-training programs that included a supervised practice
component were significantly more effective overall (mean effect size?=?0.45, confidence interval (CI)?=?0.39 to 0.52) compared to skill-training
programs without supervised practice (0.11, CI?=?-0.01 to 0.22) and psychoeducational (information-only) programs (0.13, CI?=?0.06 to 0.21). When
comparisons on specific outcomes were possible, skill-training programs including supervised practice were significantly more effective than the
other two groups of programs in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and general psychological distress, and in improving social-
emotional skills, self-perceptions, and academic behaviors and performance. The magnitude of effects achieved in several outcome areas is comparable
to or higher than that reported in other reviews of universal programs, suggesting that skill-training programs for higher education students that
incorporate supervised practice now join the ranks of other effective preventive mental health interventions. This review offers several
recommendations to improve the experimental rigor of future research.
Prevention Science, 16(4) : 487-
507
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any)
Clarke, A.
M., Kuosmanen, T., Barry, M. M.
The rapid growth in the use of online technologies among youth provides an opportunity to
increase access to evidence-based mental health resources. The aim of this systematic review is to provide a narrative synthesis of the evidence on
the effectiveness of online mental health promotion and prevention interventions for youth aged 12-25 years. Searching a range of electronic
databases, 28 studies conducted since 2000 were identified. Eight studies evaluating six mental health promotion interventions and 20 studies
evaluating 15 prevention interventions were reviewed. The results from the mental health promotion interventions indicate that there is some evidence
that skills-based interventions presented in a module-based format can have a significant impact on adolescent mental health, however, an
insufficient number of studies limits this finding. The results from the online prevention interventions indicate the significant positive effect of
computerized cognitive behavioral therapy on adolescents' and emerging adults' anxiety and depression symptoms. The rates of non-completion were
moderate to high across a number of studies. Implementation findings provide some evidence that participant face-to-face and/or web-based support was
an important feature in terms of program completion and outcomes. Additional research examining factors affecting exposure, adherence and outcomes is
required. The quality of evidence across the studies varied significantly, thus highlighting the need for more rigorous, higher quality evaluations
conducted with more diverse samples of youth. Although future research is warranted, this study highlights the potential of online mental health
promotion and prevention interventions in promoting youth wellbeing and reducing mental health problems.
Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 44(1) : 90-
113
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Universal prevention, At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions
(any), Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Ensari, I., Greenlee, T. A., Motl, R. W., Petruzzello, S. J.,
Background: One prominent and well-cited meta-analysis published nearly 25 years ago reported that an acute or single bout of
exercise reduced state anxiety by approximately ¼ standard deviation. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published
after that meta-analysis for updating our understanding of the acute effects of exercise on state anxiety.; Methods: We searched PubMed, EBSCOHost,
Medline, PsycINFO, ERIC, and ScienceDirect for RCTs of acute exercise and state anxiety as an outcome. There were 36 RCTs that met inclusion criteria
and yielded data for effect size (ES) generation (Cohen's d). An overall ES was calculated using a random effects model and expressed as Hedge's
g.; Results: The weighted mean ES was small (Hedge's g = 0.16, standard error (SE) = 0.06), but statistically significant (P < 0.05), and indicated
that a single bout of exercise resulted in an improvement in state anxiety compared with control. The overall ES was heterogeneous and post hoc,
exploratory analyses using both random- and fixed-effects models identified several variables as moderators including sample age, sex and health
status, baseline activity levels, exercise intensity, modality and control condition, randomization, overall study quality, and the anxiety measure
(P < 0.05).; Conclusion: The cumulative evidence from high quality studies indicates that acute bouts of exercise can yield a small reduction in
state anxiety. The research is still plagued by floor effects associated with recruiting persons with normal or lower levels of state anxiety, and
this should be overcome in subsequent trials.; © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Depression & Anxiety, 32(8) : 624-634
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention, At risk (indicated or selected prevention), Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative
Interventions (CAM), Physical activity, exercise
Esbjorn, B. H., Reinholdt-Dunne, M. L., Nielsen, S. K., Smith, A. C., Breinholst, S., Leth, I.
Background: Little is known about the effect of case-
formulation based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for anxious children. Aim: The present study explores the feasibility of case-formulation driven
CBT for anxious children. Parents were involved in treatment as either co-facilitators (involved only as the child's assistants, treatment being
primarily directed at the child), or as co-clients (parents received therapy targeting theoretically established maintaining mechanisms; children
received half of the sessions, parents the other half). Method: Feasibility of the case-formulation driven CBT was established by comparing the
completion rate and the percentage of children free of anxiety after treatment, with manualized treatments reported in existing meta-analyses.
Children aged 7-12 years and their parents participated ( n = 54). Families were assessed at pre- and posttreatment and at 6-month followup. Results:
All families completed treatment and the percentage of recovery in the case-formulation driven approach was comparable to results obtained in
manualized treatments. Conclusion: The findings from this stage I study supports the notion that a case-formulation driven approach to CBT may be a
feasible option when selecting treatment for anxious children; however, further studies must be conducted before firm conclusions can be drawn.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract).
Behavioural & Cognitive
Psychotherapy, 43(1) : 11
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT), Other service delivery and improvement
interventions
Davis, R., de-Souza, M. A. M., Rigatti, R., Heldt, E.
Objective: To conduct a systematic review about the long-term
response to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders (ADs) in children and adolescents. Methods: The PubMed and ISI Web of Science
databases were consulted. Search in the databases was performed in November 2012 and included cohort studies after CBT for ADs in children and
adolescents with a follow-up period over 12 months. results: A total of 10 papers met the inclusion criteria. The follow-up period ranged from 12
months to 13 years and the results generally showed maintenance of the short-term benefits with CBT. However, the studies presented limitations,
especially regarding methods, such as lack of a control group and losses to follow-up. Conclusion: The long-term benefits of CBT were identified,
however it would be interesting to conduct other studies with more frequent assessment periods, in order to minimize losses to follow-up, in addition
to evaluating children and adolescents in the various stages of their development.
Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 63(4) : 373-378
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Cristea, I. A., Kok, R. N., Cuijpers, P.
Background: Cognitive bias modification (CBM) interventions are strongly advocated in research and clinical practice.; Aims: To
examine the efficiency of CBM for clinically relevant outcomes, along with study quality, publication bias and potential moderators.; Method: We
included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of CBM interventions that reported clinically relevant outcomes assessed with standardised instruments.;
Results: We identified 49 trials and grouped outcomes into anxiety and depression. Effect sizes were small considering all the samples, and mostly
non-significant for patient samples. Effect sizes became non-significant when outliers were excluded and after adjustment for publication bias. The
quality of the RCTs was suboptimal.; Conclusions: CBM may have small effects on mental health problems, but it is also very well possible that there
are no significant clinically relevant effects. Research in this field is hampered by small and low-quality trials, and by risk of publication bias.
Many positive outcomes are driven by extreme outliers.; Royal College of Psychiatrists.
British Journal of
Psychiatry, 206(1) : 7-16
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Attention/cognitive bias
modification
Cristea, I. A., Mogoase, C., David, D., Cuijpers, P.
Background:
Despite accumulating research and bold claims about the efficacy of cognitive bias modification (CBM) for young populations, no meta-analysis has
attempted to synthesize the research literature so far. We examined whether there was empirical evidence for the clinical efficacy of CBM
interventions in youths, while also considering the methodological quality of this evidence.; Methods: Studies were identified through systematic
searches in bibliographical databases (PubMed, PsychInfo, Cochrane Library and EMBASE to June 2014). We included randomized controlled trials of CBM
interventions, and considered both clinical outcomes and targeted biases. We examined the quality of the trials, as well as potential publication
bias and possible moderators.; Results: We identified 23 trials that reported on four types of outcomes: mental health, anxiety, depression and bias.
Effect sizes were small and nonsignificant for all symptom outcomes considered. We found a moderate significant effect size for bias outcomes
(Hedges' g of 0.53), with significant heterogeneity. There were no differences between types of CBM interventions, or between one versus multiple-
session applications. A small but significant effect size for mental health problems arose when the intervention was delivered in schools. The
quality of almost all of the included studies was suboptimal and the vast majority did not include information needed for allowing quality
assessment.; Conclusions: We conducted the first meta-analysis of CBM interventions for children and adolescents and found no effects for mental
health outcomes, but we did find moderate and significant effects on the targeted biases. Our results cast serious doubts on CBM interventions having
any clinical utility for nonadult populations. Demand characteristics might play an important part in CBM research.; © 2015 Association for Child and
Adolescent Mental Health.
Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied
Disciplines, 56(7) : 723-734
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Universal prevention, At risk (indicated or selected prevention), Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Attention/cognitive bias
modification
Ebert, D. D., Zarski, A-C., Christensen, H., Stikkelbroek, Y., Cuijpers, P., Berking, M., Riper, H.
Background: Anxiety and depression in children and adolescents are undertreated. Computer- and Internet-based cognitive behavioral
treatments (cCBT) may be an attractive treatment alternative to regular face-to-face treatment.This meta-analysis aims to evaluate whether cCBT is
effective for treating symptoms of anxiety and depression in youth.; Methods and Findings: We conducted systematic searches in bibliographical
databases (Pubmed, Cochrane controlled trial register, PsychInfo) up to December 4, 2013. Only randomized controlled trials in which a computer-,
Internet- or mobile-based cognitive behavioral intervention targeting either depression, anxiety or both in children or adolescents up to the age of
25 were compared to a control condition were selected. We employed a random-effects pooling model in overall effect analyses and a mixed effect model
for sub-group analyses. Searches resulted in identifying 13 randomized trials, including 796 children and adolescents that met inclusion criteria.
Seven studies were directed at treating anxiety, four studies at depression, and two were of a transdiagnostic nature, targeting both anxiety and
depression. The overall mean effect size (Hedges' g) of cCBT on symptoms of anxiety or depression at post-test was g=0.72 (95% CI:0.55-0.90, numbers
needed to be treated (NNT)=2.56). Heterogeneity was low (I²=20.14%, 95% CI: 0-58%). The superiority of cCBT over controls was evident for
interventions targeting anxiety (g=0.68; 95% CI: 0.45-0.92; p < .001; NNT=2.70) and for interventions targeting depression (g=0.76; 95% CI: 0.41-
0.12; p < .001; NNT=2.44) as well as for transdiagnostic interventions (g=0.94; 95% CI: 0.23-2.66; p < .001; NNT=2.60).; Conclusions: Results provide
evidence for the efficacy of cCBT in the treatment of anxiety and depressive symptoms in youth. Hence, such interventions may be a promising
treatment alternative when evidence based face-to-face treatment is not feasible. Future studies should examine long-term effects of treatments and
should focus on obtaining patient-level data from existing studies, to perform an individual patient data meta-analysis.;
PLoS ONE, 10(3) : e0119895-
e0119895
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention), Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT), Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Erford, B. T., Kress, V. E., Giguere, M., Cieri, D., Erford, B. M.
This meta-analysis concluded that counseling and psychotherapy generally have a small to medium effect
in treating anxiety in school-aged youth for termination (waitlist [k = 55; n = 2,959] d = .60[.52-.68]; placebo [k = 14; n = 867] d = .57[.42-.72];
treatment-as-usual [k = 10; n = 371] d = .32[.14-.50]; single group [k = 39; n = 889] d = .42(.37-.48]; and followup (waitlist [k = 22; n = 1,039] d
= .51[.39-.63]; placebo [k = 2; n = 134] d = .73[.42-1.03]; treatment-as-usual [k = 9; n = 327] d = .21 [.02-.44]; single group [k = 36; n = 788] d =
.58[.51-.65]). The findings of 80 clinical trials were synthesized using a random effects model for mean difference and mean gain effect size
estimates. No effects of moderating variables were evident. Implications for counseling practice and future anxiety outcome research are addressed.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract).
Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 37(1) : 63-94
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any)
Ewing, D. L., Monsen, J. J., Thompson, E. J., Cartwright-Hatton, S., Field,
A.
Background: Previous meta-analyses of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for children and young people with anxiety
disorders have not considered the efficacy of transdiagnostic CBT for the remission of childhood anxiety. Aim: To provide a meta-analysis on the
efficacy of transdiagnostic CBT for children and young people with anxiety disorders. Methods: The analysis included randomized controlled trials
using transdiagnostic CBT for children and young people formally diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. An electronic search was conducted using the
following databases: ASSIA, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Current Controlled Trials, Medline, PsycArticles, PsychInfo, and Web of Knowledge.
The search terms included \"anxiety disorder(s)\", \"anxi*\", \"cognitive behavio*, \"CBT\", \"child*\", \"children\", \"paediatric\", \"adolescent
(s)\", \"adolescence\", \"youth\" and \"young pe*\". The studies identified from this search were screened against the inclusion and exclusion
criteria, and 20 studies were identified as appropriate for inclusion in the current meta-analysis. Pre- and posttreatment (or control period) data
were used for analysis. Results: Findings indicated significantly greater odds of anxiety remission from pre- to posttreatment for those engaged in
the transdiagnostic CBT intervention compared with those in the control group, with children in the treatment condition 9.15 times more likely to
recover from their anxiety diagnosis than children in the control group. Risk of bias was not correlated with study effect sizes. Conclusions:
Transdiagnostic CBT seems effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety in children and young people. Further research is required to investigate the
efficacy of CBT for children under the age of 6. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract).
Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy, 43(5) : 562-577
- Year: 2015
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Systematic reviews
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions
(any), Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)