Cognitive behaviour treatment of co-occurring depression and generalised anxiety in routine clinical practice

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression are closely associated. However, they are typically treated separately and there is a dearth of information on tackling them together. AIMS: The study’s purpose was to establish how best to treat co-occurring anxiety and depression in a routine clinical service—specifically, to compare cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) focusing only on depression (CBT-D) to a broader CBT focusing on both depression and anxiety (CBT-DA). METHOD: Case notes of 69 patients with equally severe clinical levels of depression and anxiety seen in a routine clinical service were randomly selected to review from a pool of 990 patients. The mean age was 44.61 years (SD = 12.97). 65% of the sample were female and 88% reported their ethnicity white. The content of electronic records reporting techniques used and scores on a measure of depression (The Patient Health Questionnaire) and anxiety (The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment) were reviewed to categorise therapy as CBT-D or CBT-DA. RESULTS: Results indicated significant overall improvement with CBT; 70% and 77% of the sample met criteria for reliable improvement on The Patient Health Questionnaire and The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment respectively. Fewer patients who received CBT-DA met The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment recovery criteria at the end of treatment than those who received CBT-D. Mean post treatment PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores remained above threshold for those receiving CBT_DA but not those receiving CBT-D. There was no evidence suggesting CBT-DA was superior to CBT-D. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with equally severe clinical levels of depression and anxiety, a broader treatment addressing both anxiety and depression does not appear to be associated with improved outcomes compared to treatment focused on depression.