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A Naturalistic Comparison of Group Transdiagnostic Behaviour Therapy (TBT) and Disorder-Specific Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Groups for the Affective Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2018

Daniel F. Gros ,
Colleen Merrifield ,
Karen Rowa ,
Derek D. Szafranski ,
Lisa Young  and
Randi E. McCabe
Daniel F. Gros*
Affiliation:
Mental Health Service, Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, SC, USA and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
Colleen Merrifield
Affiliation:
Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Mood Disorders Outpatient Clinic, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Karen Rowa
Affiliation:
Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Derek D. Szafranski
Affiliation:
Mental Health Service, Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, SC, USA and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
Lisa Young
Affiliation:
Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Randi E. McCabe
Affiliation:
Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
*
*Correspondence to Daniel F. Gros, Mental Health Service 116, Ralph H. Johnson VAMC, 109 Bee Street, Charleston, SC 29401, USA. E-mail: grosd@musc.edu
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Abstract

Background: Transdiagnostic psychotherapies are designed to apply the same underlying treatment principles across a set of psychiatric disorders, without significant tailoring to specific diagnoses. Several transdiagnostic psychotherapy protocols have been developed recently, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. One promising treatment is Transdiagnostic Behaviour Therapy (TBT), in that it is one of the few transdiagnostic treatments to date shown to be effective in patients with depressive and anxiety disorders. However, TBT has only been investigated via individual psychotherapy. Aims: The present study investigated the effectiveness of a group protocol for TBT, compared with disorder-specific group psychotherapies, in a naturalistic setting. Method: 109 participants with various diagnoses of affective disorders completed either group TBT (n = 37) or a disorder-specific group psychotherapy (n = 72). Measures included assessments of psychiatric symptomatology and transdiagnostic impairment at baseline and post-treatment. Results: Overall, participants in the TBT group demonstrated significant improvements across all measures. When compared with disorder-specific groups, no statistical differences were observed between groups across symptoms; however, participants in the TBT group demonstrated roughly twice the treatment effect sizes in transdiagnostic impairment compared with participants in the disorder-specific groups. In addition, when participants from the most well-represented diagnosis and disorder-specific treatment (social anxiety disorder) were investigated separately, participants in the TBT group demonstrated significantly larger improvements in comorbid depressive symptoms than participants in the disorder-specific treatment. Conclusions: Pending replication and additional comparison studies, group TBT may provide an effective group treatment option for patients with affective disorders.

Keywords

transdiagnosticcomorbidityanxiety disordersdepression
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 39 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2018 

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