The Relative Efficacy of Bona Fide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Applied Relaxation for Generalized Anxiety Disorder at Follow-up: A Longitudinal Multilevel Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective: This meta-analysis examined the relative efficacy of bona fide psychotherapy conditions in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) from posttreatment to follow-up in adults. Methods: Omnibus tests of relative efficacy across bona fide psychotherapies for primary and secondary outcomes were conducted. Longitudinal multilevel subgroup analyses investigated, (a) applied relaxation versus cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) without applied relaxation and (b) well-established CBT versus augmented integrative CBT. Results: In total, 54 repeated effect sizes nested in 23 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Omnibus test of relative efficacy indicated no significant differences among the bona fide psychotherapy contrasts in primary and some differences in secondary outcomes. When contrasting applied relaxation with CBT without applied relaxation, negligible relative efficacy differences were found at each assessment time. There were small efficacy differences in favor of augmented integrative CBT in comparison to wellestablished CBT. Conclusion: Small relative efficacy differences were found between bona fide psychotherapies in GAD.