This Way Up - Generalised Anxiety Disorder Course

Description:

This course is a clinician-assisted cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT) program for generalised anxiety disorder, incorporating best practice CBT principles including challenging meta-beliefs about worry, graded exposure, challenging core beliefs, and relapse prevention. It consists of six online lessons, homework activities, automatic emails, additional resource documents, email or telephone contact with a clinician and access to an online discussion forum. Each lesson takes about 20 minutes and you will need to commit an additional 3-4 hours per week over the 6 week period. Automatic emails are sent to congratulate participants for completing each lesson, to remind them to complete the sessions, and to notify them of new resources. The additional resources provide supplementary information about techniques such as managing sleep problems, assertiveness and problem solving skills, managing low mood, panic, and other common comorbid symptoms.

Service URL:

https://thiswayup.org.au/clinic/courses/courses-we-offer/gad/

Agency Responsible:

This Way Up, Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney.

Details

Format:

Website.

Intervention Type:

Psychological – CBT.

Course Length:

Long (more than 5 modules). Comprising 6 online lessons over 6 weeks

Support Option:

Clinical support. By either your own clinician or a This Way Up clinician

Target Audience

Primary Category:

Generalised anxiety disorder.

Target Audience:

Adult.

Language:

English.

Access

Fee:

Fee-based. The course costs $55

Access:

Closed: Fee required. You need to be referred by your clinician to register for the course. Your clinician can select to either supervise you on the course or for a This Way Up clinician to supervise you.

Contact Details:

Through an online form at:
https://thiswayup.org.au/about/contact-us/

Research evidence

Research Trials:

5

Research RCTs:

3

Outcome Summary:

The efficacy of the GAD Course has been tested in three randomised controlled trials (RCT). The first trial randomly assigned participants to either the GAD Course or to a waitlist control group. Participants in the GAD Course group reported significantly reduced symptoms of worry and depression post-treatment. The mean between-groups effect size across two measures of GAD was d = 1.1, indicating a large effect of the intervention. Further analyses also indicated that participants in the intervention group significantly increased social and recreational risk-taking scores relative to the control group. The second trial compared three groups: clinician-assisted vs. technician (non-clinician)-assisted vs. delayed treatment. At post-treatment, outcomes for both treatment groups were superior to the control group. Both clinician- and technician-assisted treatment resulted in effect sizes greater than 1.0, indicating that the treatment effect of the GAD Course was considerable. The delayed treatment (control) group did not improve on measures of GAD. There was no difference between the clinician-assisted and technician-assisted groups, indicating that online treatment programs may be effectively administered by a non-clinician. Furthermore, in the most recent RCT, the GAD course resulted in significant reductions on two measures of GAD (Penn State Worry Questionnaire and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment Inventory) compared to waitlist controls, with a moderate between-group effect size.

Additionally, these positive findings from controlled studies were replicated in studies involving clients who enrolled for the online GAD course on the basis of a clinical prescription. Indeed, in a clinical setting the program has been found to be effective in reducing GAD symptoms and psychological distress, and in increasing health-related quality of life.

 

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Research paper citations

Evidence evaluation studies:
Sunderland, M., Wong, N., Hilvert-Bruce, Z., Andrews, G. (2012) Investigating trajectories of change in psychological distress amongst patients with depression and generalised anxiety disorder treated with internet cognitive behavioural therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50(6): 374-80.

Mewton, L., Wong, N., Andrews, G. (2012) The Effectiveness of Internet Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Clinical Practice. Depression and Anxiety [epublication]

Lorian, C.N., Titov, N., Grisham, J.R. (2012) Changes in risk-taking over the course of an internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26(1): 140-9.

Bell, C.J., Colhoun, H.C., Carter, F.A., Frampton, C.M. (2012) Effectiveness of computerised cognitive behaviour therapy for anxiety disorders in secondary care. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of
Psychiatry, 46(7): 630-640

Robinson, E., Titov, N., Andrews, G., McIntyre, K., Schwencke, G., & Solley, K. (2010). Internet treatment for generalized anxiety disorder: a randomized controlled trial comparing clinician vs. technician assistance. PLoS One, 5(6), e10942.

Titov, N. et al. (2009). Clinician-assisted internet treatment is effective for generalized anxiety disorder: randomized controlled trial. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(10), 905-912.

Additional references:
Hilvert-Bruce, Z., Rossouw, P.J., Wong, N., Sunderland, M., Andrews, G. (2012) Adherence as a determinant of effectiveness of internet cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety and depressive disorders. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 463-468.