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Anxiety treatment

Automated e-therapy for anxiety disorders

Klein B, Meyer D, Austin DW, et al. · Journal of medical Internet research · 2011

Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC

People finishing Anxiety Online’s disorder-specific e-therapy programs showed significant pre–post gains on severity, quality of life, and confidence measures.

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.

Key findings

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.

Methodology

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.

Limitations

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.

How this study connects

Role on claims

Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.

  • SupportsAnxiety Treatmentconcept

    Multiple studies in this library examine anxiety treatment with empirical patient or population outcomes rather than opinion alone.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • SupportsAnxiety Treatmentconcept

    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.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • SupportsAnxiety Treatmentconcept

    Effect sizes and settings differ across anxiety treatment studies — digital vs clinic, trial vs observational — so results should not be pooled casually.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

Open questions

Tensions this paper is part of

From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.

Related papers in this topic

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