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Although guided self-help for depression and anxiety disorders has been examined in many studies, it is not clear whether it is equally effective as face-to-face treatments.MethodWe conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in which the effects of guided self-help on depression and anxiety were compared directly with face-to-face psychotherapies for depression and anxiety disorders. A systematic search in bibliographical databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane) resulted in 21 studies with 810 participants. The overall effect size indicating the difference between guided self-help and face-to-face psychotherapy at post-test was d=-0.02, in favour of guided self-help. At follow-up (up to 1 year) no significant difference was found either. No significant difference was found between the drop-out rates in the two treatments formats. It seems safe to conclude that guided self-help and face-to-face treatments can have comparable effects. It is time to start thinking about implementation in routine care.

BackgroundTelephone-based cognitive behavioral therapy (tel-CBT) ascribes importance to between-session learning with the support of the therapist. The study describes patient homework engagement (HE) and homework-related therapist behaviors (TBH) over the course of treatment and explores their relation to depressive symptoms during tel-CBT for patients with depression.MethodsAudiotaped sessions (N = 197) from complete therapies of 22 patients (77% female, age: M = 54.1, SD = 18.8) were rated by five trained raters using two self-constructed rating scales measuring the extent of HE and TBH (scored: 0–4).ResultsAverage scores across sessions were moderate to high in both HE (M = 2.71, SD = 0.74) and TBH (M = 2.1, SD = 0.73). Multilevel mixed models showed a slight decrease in HE and no significant decrease in TBH over the course of treatment. Higher TBH was related to higher HE and higher HE was related to lower symptom severity.ConclusionsResults suggest that HE is a relevant therapeutic process element related to reduced depressive symptoms in tel-CBT and that TBH is positively associated with HE. Future research is needed to determine the causal direction of the association between HE and depressive symptoms and to investigate whether TBH moderates the relationship between HE and depressive symptoms.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02667366. Registered on 3 December 2015.

Self-help interventions without professional contact to curb adult problem drinking in the community are increasingly being delivered via the Internet. The objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the overall effectiveness of these eHealth interventions. In all, 9 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), all from high-income countries, with 9 comparison conditions and a total of 1553 participants, were identified, and their combined effectiveness in reducing alcohol consumption was evaluated by means of a meta-analysis. An overall medium effect size (g = 0.44, 95% CI 0.17-0.71, random effect model) was found for the 9 studies, all of which compared no-contact interventions to control conditions. The medium effect was maintained (g = 0.39; 95% CI 0.23-0.57, random effect model) after exclusion of two outliers. Type of control group, treatment location, type of analysis, and sample size did not have differential impacts on treatment outcome. A significant difference (P = .04) emerged between single-session personalized normative feedback interventions (g = 0.27, 95% CI 0.11-0.43) and more extended e- self-help (g = 0.61, 95% CI 0.33-0.90). E-self-help interventions without professional contact are effective in curbing adult problem drinking in high-income countries. In view of the easy scalability and low dissemination costs of such interventions, we recommend exploration of whether these could broaden the scope of effective public health interventions in low- and middle-income countries as well.

Self-help interventions for psychiatric disorders represent an increasingly popular alternative to therapist-administered psychological therapies, offering the potential of increased access to cost-effective treatment. To determine the efficacy, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of self-help interventions for anxiety disorders. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of self-help interventions for anxiety disorders were identified by searching nine online databases. Studies were grouped according to disorder and meta-analyses were conducted where sufficient data were available. Overall meta-analyses of self-help v. waiting list and therapist-administered treatment were also undertaken. Methodological quality was assessed independently by two researchers according to criteria set out by the Cochrane Collaboration. Thirty-one RCTs met inclusion criteria for the review. Results of the overall meta-analysis comparing self-help with waiting list gave a significant effect size of 0.84 in favour of self-help. Comparison of self-help with therapist-administered treatments revealed a significant difference in favour of the latter with an effect size of 0.34. The addition of guidance and the presentation of multimedia or web-based self-help materials improved treatment outcome. Self-help interventions appear to be an effective way of treating individuals diagnosed with social phobia and panic disorder. Further research is required to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and acceptability of these interventions.

Internet-delivered self-help programmes with added therapist guidance have shown efficacy in social anxiety disorder, but unguided self-help has been insufficiently studied. To evaluate the efficacy of guided and unguided self-help for social anxiety disorder. Participants followed a cognitive-behavioural self-help programme in the form of either pure bibliotherapy or an internet-based treatment with therapist guidance and online group discussions. A subsequent trial was conducted to evaluate treatment specificity. Participants (n = 235) were randomised to one of three conditions in the first trial, or one of four conditions in the second. Pure bibliotherapy and the internet-based treatment were better than waiting list on measures of social anxiety, general anxiety, depression and quality of life. The internet-based therapy had the highest effect sizes, but directly comparable effects were noted for bibliotherapy augmented with online group discussions. Gains were well maintained a year later. Unguided self-help through bibliotherapy can produce enduring improvement for individuals with social anxiety disorder.

Although self-help interventions are effective in treating depression, less is known about the factors that determine effectiveness (i.e. moderators of effect). This study sought to determine whether the content of self-help interventions, the study populations or aspects of study design were the most important moderators. Randomized trials of the effectiveness of self-help interventions versus controls in the treatment of depressive symptoms were identified using previous reviews and electronic database searches. Data on moderators (i.e. patient populations, study design, intervention content) and outcomes were extracted and analysed using meta-regression. Thirty-four studies were identified with 39 comparisons. Study design factors associated with greater effectiveness were unclear allocation concealment, observer-rated outcome measures and waiting-list control groups. Greater effectiveness was also associated with recruitment in non-clinical settings, patients with existing depression (rather than those 'at risk'), contact with a therapist (i.e. guided self-help) and the use of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques. However, only guided self-help remained significant in the multivariate analysis [regression coefficient 0.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.05-0.68, p=0.03]. In the subset of guided studies, there were no significant associations between outcomes and the session length, content, delivery mode or therapist background. The results provide some insights into moderators of self-help interventions, which might assist in the design of future interventions. However, the present study did not provide a comprehensive description, and other research methods might be required to identify factors associated with the effectiveness of self-help.

The development of widely accessible, effective psychological interventions for depression is a priority. This randomized trial provides the first controlled data on an innovative cognitive bias modification (CBM) training guided self-help intervention for depression. One hundred and twenty-one consecutively recruited participants meeting criteria for current major depression were randomly allocated to treatment as usual (TAU) or to TAU plus concreteness training (CNT) guided self-help or to TAU plus relaxation training (RT) guided self-help. CNT involved repeated practice at mental exercises designed to switch patients from an unhelpful abstract thinking habit to a helpful concrete thinking habit, thereby targeting depressogenic cognitive processes (rumination, overgeneralization). The addition of CNT to TAU significantly improved depressive symptoms at post-treatment [mean difference on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) 4.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29-7.26], 3- and 6-month follow-ups, and for rumination and overgeneralization post-treatment. There was no difference in the reduction of symptoms between CNT and RT (mean difference on the HAMD 1.98, 95% CI -1.14 to 5.11), although CNT significantly reduced rumination and overgeneralization relative to RT post-treatment, suggesting a specific benefit on these cognitive processes. This study provides preliminary evidence that CNT guided self-help may be a useful addition to TAU in treating major depression in primary care, although the effect was not significantly different from an existing active treatment (RT) matched for structural and common factors. Because of its relative brevity and distinct format, it may have value as an additional innovative approach to increase the accessibility of treatment choices for depression.

In order to reduce the high prevalence of depression, early interventions for people at risk of depression are warranted. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an early guided self-help programme based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for reducing depressive symptomatology. Participants with mild to moderate depressive symptomatology were recruited from the general population and randomized to the self-help programme with extensive email support (n=125), the self-help programme with minimal email support (n=125) or to a waiting list control group (n=126). Participants completed measures before and after the intervention to assess depression, anxiety, fatigue, experiential avoidance, positive mental health and mindfulness. Participants in the experimental conditions also completed these measures at a 3-month follow-up. In the experimental conditions significant reductions in depression, anxiety, fatigue, experiential avoidance and improvements in positive mental health and mindfulness were found, compared with the waiting list condition (effect sizes Cohen's d=0.51-1.00). These effects were sustained at the 3-month follow-up. There were no significant differences between the experimental conditions on the outcome measures. The ACT-based self-help programme with minimal email support is effective for people with mild to moderate depressive symptomatology.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)-based guided self-help (GSH) has been suggested to be an effective intervention for mild to moderate anxiety and depression, yet the evidence seems inconclusive, with some studies reporting that GSH is effective and others finding that GSH is ineffective. GSH differs in important respects from other levels of self-help, yet the literature regarding exclusively guided self-help interventions for anxiety and depression has not been reviewed systematically. A literature search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining CBT-based GSH interventions for anxiety and depressive disorders was conducted. Multiple electronic databases were searched; several journals spanning key disciplines were hand-searched; reference lists of included review articles were scanned and relevant first authors were contacted. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis indicated the effectiveness of GSH at post-treatment, although GSH was found to have limited effectiveness at follow-up or among more clinically representative samples. Studies that reported greater effectiveness of GSH tended to be of lower methodological quality and generally involved participants who were self-selected rather than recruited through clinical referrals. Although there is support for the effectiveness of CBT-based GSH among media-recruited individuals, the finding that the reviewed RCTs had limited effectiveness within routine clinical practice demonstrates that the evidence is not conclusive. Further rigorous evidence based on clinical populations that examines longer-term outcomes is required before CBT-based GSH interventions can be deemed effective for adults accessing primary care services for treatment of anxiety and depression.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)-based guided self-help is recommended as a first step in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. To evaluate in a randomised controlled trial (Clinicaltrials.gov registration number: NCT00461071) the long-term effectiveness of internet-based guided self-help (INT-GSH) compared with conventional guided bibliotherapy (BIB-GSH) in females with bulimia nervosa. A total of 155 participants were randomly assigned to INT-GSH or BIB-GSH for 7 months. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, month 4, month 7 and month 18. The greatest improvement was reported after 4 months with a continued reduction in eating disorder symptomatology reported at month 7 and 18. After 18 months, 14.6% (n = 7/48) of the participants in the INT-GSH group and 25% (n = 7/28) in the BIB-GSH group were abstinent from binge eating and compensatory measures, 43.8% (n = 21/48) and 39.2% (n = 11/28) respectively were in remission. No differences regarding outcome between the two groups were found. Internet-based guided self-help for bulimia nervosa was not superior compared with bibliotherapy, the gold standard of self-help. Improvements remain stable in the long term.