Group cognitive behavioural therapy with virtual reality exposure versus group cognitive behavioural therapy with in vivo exposure for social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia: a protocol for a randomised clinical trial.

Introduction: Anxiety disorders have a high lifetime prevalence, early-onset and long duration or chronicity. Exposure therapy is considered one of the most effective elements in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for anxiety, but in vivo exposure can be challenging to access and control, and is sometimes rejected by patients because they consider it too aversive. Virtual reality allows flexible and controlled exposure to challenging situations in an immersive and protected environment.

Transdiagnostic versus Diagnosis-Specific Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disorders and Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP) delivered in a group format could facilitate the implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments.

Objective: This study compared the efficacy of group UP and diagnosis-specific cognitive behavioral therapy (dCBT) for anxiety and depression in outpatient mental health services.

Methods: In this pragmatic, multi-center, single-blinded, non-inferiority, randomized controlled trial (RCT), we assigned 291 patients with major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or agoraphobia to 14 weekly sessions in mixed-diagnosis UP or single-diagnosis dCBT groups.