Which Psychotherapy Works for Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Cognitive-behavioral therapy has shown modest effectiveness for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), but little systematic research has been conducted on using psychodynamically based psychotherapies for this disorder. These investigators conducted the first blindly rated, controlled trial of psychodynamic psychotherapy for GAD. They randomized 57 patients (of 231 initially screened) to CBT focused on worrying or manual-based, psychodynamic, supportive-expressive psychotherapy for 30 sessions. Participants (mean age, 42; 81% women) received no medication; 72% had psychiatric comorbidities (in most cases, anxiety or mood disorder).

Patients were excluded if they had medical or psychiatric instability; personality disorder; or a diagnosis withi…