Transdiagnostic internet treatment for anxiety and depression

Abstract

Anxiety and depression are common, chronic, disabling and frequently comorbid, but manypeople experience barriers accessing treatment. Internet-delivered psychological treatments (iPT)have considerable potential to increase access, while transdiagnostic (TD) interventions, which aimto simultaneously treat multiple disorders, represent an emerging approach that may facilitate thetreatment of comorbidity. The present paper describes a conceptual and pragmatic rationale for combiningiPT and TD approaches. It also describes the authors’ experiences in developing and evaluatingTD iPT protocols for anxiety and depression. The results of 4 randomised controlled trials and oneopen trial (N = 572) are reviewed. The results of these trials are encouraging and indicate TD iPT cansignificantly reduce symptoms of both principal and comorbid disorders. However, independent replicationof the existing findings is required and many outstanding questions remain. We watch withinterest how further conceptual and technological developments influence the content and deliveryof these interventions.