Smartphone therapy could help with generalised anxiety disorder

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Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash
Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash

Therapy delivered through a smartphone could help with generalised anxiety disorder, according to international researchers. The team performed a randomised clinical trial with 351 adults who either received a smartphone-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy, or psychoeducation instead. Both interventions were self-paced, self-guided and required participants to act on the information in order the achieve a benefit. They found the cognitive behavioural therapy saw greater reductions in anxiety and remission rates at follow-up when compared with the psychoeducation.

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conference:
JAMA Network Open
Research:Paper
Organisation/s: Boston University, USA
Funder: This study was funded and supported by Big Health Inc. Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The design and prespecified statistical analysis plan for this trialwere led by the sponsor, Big Health Inc. Drs Parsons and Otto controlled final decisions for interpretation and manuscript writing. The sponsor contributed to the study design in collaboration with the academic investigators, provided access to both study interventions, and funded study operations, including data collection and statistical analyses conducted by independent biostatisticians. Researchers employed by the sponsor coauthored the final manuscript in collaboration with the academic investigators. The academic investigators completed all evaluations,were responsible for data interpretation, and made the final decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Parsons reported receiving grants from Big Health Inc during the conduct of the study. Dr Ball reported having stock options in Big Health Inc. Dr Henry reported owning stock and having stock options in Big Health Inc. Dr Emsley reported receiving consultancy fees from Big Health Inc payable to King’s College London during the conduct of the study and personal fees from Big Health Inc outside the submitted work. Dr Miller reported having stock options in Big Health Inc during the conduct of the study.Ms Coombs reported receiving grants from Big Health Inc during the conduct of the study.Mr Collins reported receiving grants from Big Health Inc during the conduct of the study. Dr Long reported receiving grants from Big Health Inc during the conduct of the study. Dr Smits reported receiving personal fees from Boston University for consulting on the grant that funded the study; receiving personal fees from Big Health Inc for work as a clinical consultant during the conduct of the study; receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, US Department of Defense, and Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative for research on the intervention development; receiving personal fees from the American Psychological Association for editorial activities; and receiving royalties from Elsevier, Springer, and Oxford University Press outside the submitted work. Dr Otto reported receiving grants from Big Health Inc during the conduct of the study and personal fees from Big Health Inc outside the submitted work; receiving grant support from the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and National Institute on Aging; and receiving royalties for book publications from Oxford University Press. No other disclosures were reported.
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