An observational study of the effectiveness of group cognitive behaviour therapy for late-life depressive and anxiety disorders

Objectives: Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has been shown to be efficacious in treating depression and anxiety disorders in younger adults. Less is known about the effectiveness of CBT in treating seniors. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of short-term group CBT in the treatment of late-life anxiety and depression. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated quality assurance data of self-reported and clinician-rated depression and anxiety measures, and a self-reported quality-of-life measure before and after group CBT treatment in seniors with depressive and anxiety disorders. Results: The study demonstrated that short-term group CBT for seniors had large to very large effect size changes in depression (0.76; 1.32), moderate effect size changes in quality of life (0.60), and small to large changes in anxiety, depending on the measure (0.28, 0.94). Conclusions: The result of this study suggests that an intervention of short-term group CBT reduced depression and anxiety and improved quality of life in the seniors under study. These positive results warrant further investigation using a double-blind, placebo-controlled design.