Table 2.
Meta-analyses of direct treatment comparisons
| Meta-analysis | ID | Disorder | Direct comparisons | Aggregate effect (95% CI) | N influential trials | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baardseth et al. (2013) | 1 | Depression and Anxiety | 13 | 0.14 [−10.08 to 0.35] | 2 | These analyses, in combination with previous meta-analytic findings, fail to provide corroborative evidence for the conjecture that CBT is superior to bona fide non-CBT treatments. (pp. 395) |
| Cuijpers et al. (2006) | 2 | Late-life depression | 12 | Not reported | 2 | No clear differences in effects between different psychological treatments were found (pp. 1145). |
| Cuijpers et al. (2010b) | 3 | Chronic major depression | 4 | 0.15 [−0.25 to 0.55] | 1 | The mean effect size indicating the difference between IPT and other psychotherapies was small (pp. 58) |
| Cuijpers et al. (2012) | 4 | Depression | 30 | −0.20 [−0.32 to 0.08] | 2 | NDST was less effective than other psychological treatments (pp. 280) |
| Cuijpers et al. (2016) | 5 | Depression | 7 | 0.29 [0.01–0.56] | 4 | CBT was found to be more effective than other therapies in older adults (0.29), University students (0.51) in patients with comorbid addictive disorders, and in university students. (pp. 975) |
| Keefe et al. (2014) | 6 | Anxiety disorders | 13 | 0.02 [−0.21 to 0.26] | 2 | PDT did not differ significantly from alternative treatments (pp. 309) |
| Lilliengren et al. (2016) | 7 | Depression and anxiety | 14 | 0.01 [−0.13–0.15] | 0 | We found no differences between EDT and active treatments (e.g. medication, CBT, manualized supportive therapy) at posttreatment, but EDT outperformed supportive therapy at follow-u (pp. 90) |
| Newby et al. (2015) | 8 | Anxiety and depressive disorders | 4 | 0.58 [0.03–1.16] | 1 | Preliminary evidence from 4 comparisons with disorder-specific treatments suggests that transdiagnostic treatments are as effective for reducing anxiety and may be superior for reducing depression. (pp. 91) |
| Tolin (2010) | 9 | Depressive and anxiety disorders | 32 | 0.22 [0.09–0.35] | 4 | These results argue against previous claims of treatment equivalence and suggest that CBT should be considered a first-line psychosocial treatment of choice, at least for patients with anxiety and depressive disorders. (pp. 710) |
| Tolin (2014, 2015) | 10 | Depression and anxiety | 13 | 0.23 [−0.01 to 0.6] | 2 | Patients receiving and completing CBT fare significantly better at posttreatment than do patients receiving and completing other psychotherapies (pp. 357) |
CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy; PDT, psychodynamic therapy; NDST, non-directive supportive therapy; IPT, interpersonal therapy; EDT, experiential dynamic therapy.
Note: all effect sizes are reported for targeted symptom measures.