Group cognitive-behavioral therapy for generalized anxiety disorder:A randomized controlled trial / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the efficacy of group cognitive-behavioral therapy (GCBT) to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).Methods:In this randomized controlled trial,the control group (n =23) and the intervention group (n =33) were included,all of the participants received duloxetine (30-120 mg/d) as pharmacotherapy.The intervention group received 8 group cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions weekly,90 minutes for each time.Assessments were conducted with the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA),Hamilton Depression Scale (HMAD) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) at baseline,mid-treatmentand post-treatment.CGI included three factors,the severity of illness (SI),the globalimprovement (GI) and the efficacy index (EI).Results:The repeated measures analysis of variance of HAMA showed that,there were statistical significance on the HAMA for interaction between measure time and group processing (F =4.35,P ＜ 0.05).Compared with the control group,the intervention group got higher decreased scores of HAMA at the 4th week and 8th week,and higher prevalence of being cured and efficient at the 4th week.At the 8th week,the decreased scores of HMAD were higher in the intervention group than in the control group,and the scores of CGI-SI and the CGI-IE were lower in the intervention group.Conclusion:It suggests that group cognitive-behavioral therapy combined with pharmacotherapy could be earlier to be effective,and the symptoms of anxiety,depression and the state of illness could be improved more significantly compared with pharmacotherapy alone.