Self-help and minimal-contact therapies for anxiety disorders: Is human contact necessary for therapeutic efficacy?
✍ Scribed by Michelle G. Newman; Thane Erickson; Amy Przeworski; Ellen Dzus
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 136 KB
- Volume
- 59
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-9762
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Self‐help materials, brief therapies, and treatments involving minimal therapist contact have all been proposed as effective and low‐cost interventions for anxiety disorders. However, research also suggests that the therapeutic alliance is a central predictor of therapy outcome. Interestingly, amounts of therapist contact within and across “self‐help” interventions vary greatly. It is therefore unclear how much therapist contact is necessary for a positive anxiety disorder treatment outcome. The present article reviews the literature on anxiety disorder treatments using self‐help, self‐administered, and decreased therapist‐contact interventions. Treatment studies are grouped together by anxiety diagnosis as well as amount of therapist contact. It is concluded that self‐administered treatments are most effective for motivated clients seeking treatment for simple phobias. Predominantly self‐help therapies are efficacious for panic disorder and mixed anxiety samples. On the other hand, minimal‐contact therapies have demonstrated efficacy for the greatest variety of anxiety diagnoses. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 59: 251–274, 2003.