2016/08/05 by Erik Hedman, Erik Hedman‐Lagerlöf, Erland Axelsson +3 · 26 citations
Medicine · Psychology · #Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments #Digital Mental Health Interventions #Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
paper · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.116.181396
BACKGROUND: In DSM-5 two new diagnoses, somatic symptom disorder (SSD) and illness anxiety disorder (IAD), have replaced DSM-IV hypochondriasis. There are no previous treatment studies for these disorders. Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) delivered as therapist-guided or unguided internet treatment or as unguided bibliotherapy could be used to increase treatment accessibility. AIMS: To investigate the effect of CBT delivered as guided internet treatment (ICBT), unguided internet treatment (U-ICBT) and as unguided bibliotherapy. METHOD: A randomised controlled trial (RCT) where participants (n = 132) with a diagnosis of SSD or IAD were randomised to ICBT, U-ICBT, bibliotherapy or to a control condition on a waiting list (trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT01966705). RESULTS: Compared with the control condition, all three treatment groups made large and significant improvements on the primary outcome Health Anxiety Inventory (between-group d at post-treatment was 0.80-1.27). CONCLUSIONS: ICBT, U-ICBT and bibliotherapy can be highly effective in the treatment of SSD and IAD. This is the first study showing that these new DSM-5 disorders can be effectively treated.