Is guided self-help as effective as face-to-face psychotherapy for depression and anxiety disorders? A systematic review and meta-analysis of comparative outcome studies

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 a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological medicine 2010-12, Vol.40 (12), p.1943-1957
Main Authors: Cuijpers, P., Donker, T., van Straten, A., Li, J., Andersson, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders - therapy
Anxiety-Depression
Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy
Bibliotherapy
Biological and medical sciences
Clinical outcomes
Comparative studies
depression
Depression - therapy
Dropping out
guided self-help
Humans
Medical sciences
Meta-analysis
Patient Dropouts
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Randomized controlled trials
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Self Care
Selfhelp
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Systematic review
Treatment Outcome
Treatments
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0033-2917
1469-8978
DOI:10.1017/S0033291710000772