Automated e-therapy for anxiety disorders
People finishing Anxiety Online’s disorder-specific e-therapy programs showed significant pre–post gains on severity, quality of life, and confidence measures.
Source
Anxiety online: a virtual clinic: preliminary outcomes following completion of five fully automated treatment programs for anxiety disorders and symptoms
Study at a glance
- Design
- Human experiment — Open-access participant-choice evaluation of five fully automated 12-module programs
- N
- N=225 · 225 of 2,235 who finished the 12-week treatment window completed posttreatment assessment (10.1%)
- Population
- Adults completing Anxiety Online programs for GAD, panic/agoraphobia, OCD, PTSD, or social anxiety
- Outcome
- Pre–post symptom change across the five automated anxiety programs
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
Anxiety Online offered fully automated 12-module programs for GAD, panic/agoraphobia, OCD, PTSD, and social anxiety, with optional therapist email support. In an open-access participant-choice evaluation, 225 adults completed both pre- and posttreatment assessments across the five programs.
What they found
Each program showed a significant multivariate time effect. GAD, OCD, PTSD, and several other program outcomes improved with mostly medium-to-large effects; SAD also improved on most measures. Authors conclude the suite is a promising, accessible treatment pathway for subclinical and clinical anxiety.
The limits
What it doesn't show
There was no randomized control group, so spontaneous improvement and selection of completers can inflate effects. Only people who finished both assessments are analyzed, and therapist-assisted versus fully self-help intensity is not cleanly separated.
Key terms
- Anxiety Online
- Open-access virtual clinic delivering disorder-specific internet CBT programs.
- e-PASS
- Online assessment gateway that routes users to an appropriate e-therapy program.
- Fully automated e-therapy
- Self-guided digital treatment modules without required live sessions.
- GAD Online
- Anxiety Online program targeting generalized anxiety disorder.
- Cohen d
- Standardized effect-size metric used for pre–post change magnitude.
- Open-access trial
- Real-world evaluation where users choose and enter treatment without tight trial gating.
Flashcards
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What study design was used?
Common questions
Who was analyzed?
225 people who completed both pre- and posttreatment assessments across five programs.
Which disorders were covered?
GAD, panic with/without agoraphobia, OCD, PTSD, and social anxiety.
Was there a control group?
No—this was an open pre–post evaluation, not an RCT.
Did GAD Online help?
Yes; multivariate time effects and follow-up ANOVAs showed significant gains on all five tracked outcomes.
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