Table 2.

Comparative effects of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy: subgroup analyses

		N	g	95% CI	I2	95% CI	p
All studies		78	0.02	−0.07 to 0.10	62	52 to 70
Possible outliers removed		68	−0.07	−0.14 to 0.01	41	21 to 56
One effect size per study (highest)		67	0.06	−0.03 to 0.15	62	51 to 71
One effect size per study (lowest)		67	0.03	−0.07 to 0.12	62	51 to 71
Mood disorders
	Any mood disorder	48	−0.03	−0.14 to 0.08	52	0 to 47	0.01
	Major depression	39	0.02	−0.10 to 0.13	46	22 to 63
	Dysthymia	5	−0.30	−0.60 to −0.00	55	0 to 83
	Mixed mood disorders	4	−0.14	−0.45 to 0.17	64	0 to 88
Anxiety disorders
	Any anxiety disorder	30	0.10	−0.05 to 0.25	71	59 to 80
	Panic disorder	12	0.00	−0.28 to 0.28	62	28 to 79
	SAD	9	−0.03	−0.34 to 0.28	74	50 to 87
	OCD	6	0.64	0.20 to 1.08	72	36 to 88
	Other	3	0.24	−0.39 to 0.86	0	0 to 90
Psychotherapy type
	Cognitive-behavioral therapy	49	0.09	−0.03 to 0.20	60	46 to 71	0.12
	Interpersonal psychotherapy	11	−0.09	−0.31to 0.14	65	33 to 82
	Problem-solving therapy	5	−0.04	−0.36 to 0.27	0	0 to 79
	Counseling	6	−0.33	−0.64 to −0.02	69	27 to 87
	Other	7	0.07	−0.21 to 0.34	67	27 to 85
Treatment format
	Individual	62	0.02	−0.08 to 0.12	61	48 to 70	0.89
	Group	14	0.03	−0.18 to 0.25	71	50 to 83
Pharmacotherapy
	SSRI	37	0.01	−0.12 to 0.13	58	40 to 71	0.02
	TCA	20	0.21	0.04 to 0.39	52	19 to 71
	MAOI	7	−0.05	−0.34 to 0.25	83	65 to 91
	Mixed/protocol/other	14	−0.19	−0.37 to 0.00	49	5 to 72
Recruitment
	Only clinical samples	36	0.07	−0.06 to 0.20	55	34 to 69	0.52
	Also community recruitment	35	−0.03	−0.16 to 0.10	65	50 to 76
	Other recruitment method	7	−0.04	−0.34 to 0.25	76	49 to 89
Country
	USA	31	−0.07	−0.21 to 0.07	52	28 to 68	0.17
	Europe	29	0.03	−0.11 to 0.17	56	34 to 71
	Other	18	0.15	−0.04 to 0.34	76	62 to 85
Quality
	Score 0–1	31	0.10	−0.06 to 0.25	69	56 to 79	0.44
	Score 2–3	23	−0.03	−0.19 to 0.13	65	46 to 78
	Score 4	24	−0.02	−0.17 to 0.12	38	0 to 62

All subgroup analyses were conducted with the random effects model; a positive effect size indicates superior effects of psychotherapy; the p values indicate whether the effect sizes in the subgroups differ significantly from each other; significant values are highlighted in bold

SAD – social anxiety disorder, OCD – obsessive-compulsive disorder, SSRI – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, TCA – tricyclic antidepressant, MAOI – monoamine oxidase inhibitor