Virtual CBT Non-Inferior to In-Person CBT for Health Anxiety

Virtual CBT

“Cognitive behavioral therapy delivered online, or virtual CBT, appeared non-inferior to CBT delivered in person for health anxiety, according to results of a randomized non-inferiority clinical trial published in JAMA Psychiatry.

A health economic analysis also showed a lower net societal cost with the online format.

Read the full study by Axelsson, Andersson, and Ljótsson et al. (2020) here.

Conventional face-to-face CBT can be highly efficacious for individuals with clinically significant levels of health anxiety, but access to this type of treatment is poor. Previous studies have shown promising effects of internet-delivered cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT), which requires less therapist time.

‘We were pleased to see that, as hypothesized, ICBT appeared to be non-inferior to face-to-face CBT, at least in the short term,” Axelsson told Healio Psychiatry. “Differences in effects on secondary outcomes were small, and most effects were sustained in the long term.'”

Read the full article by Erland Axelsson here.

Read more about how to prepare for virtual CBT and other forms of teletherapy here.

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