PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENTS FOR DEPRESSION DELIVERED VIA THE INTERNET AND SUPPORTED BY A CLINICIAN: AN UPDATE

Abstract: Guided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) has been tested in many trials since the early studies dating back to the late 1990’s. The aim of this review was to investiga-te the most recent literature on guided ICBT for depression. We identified 11 controlled studies published between January 2013 and September 2014. Overall, large treatment effects were obser-ved with a few exceptions. A majority (7 studies) provided some information regarding unwanted effects such as deterioration. Three studies directly compared guided ICBT against face-to-face CBT. We added an earlier study and calculated meta-analytic summary statistics for the four studies involving a total of 336 participants. The average effect size difference was Hedges g = 0.12 (95% CI:-0.08~0.32) in the direction of favouring guided ICBT, but with no practical importance. We conclude that guided ICBT is a promising treatment for depression and mood disorders and that the research is rapidly expanding