For how we live.
A single-centre randomised trial found the Bergen 4-day treatment cut obsessive-compulsive symptoms far more than an unguided internet CBT programme, with 61% responding at three months versus 25%.
In two randomised trials, a grief-specific psychotherapy roughly doubled response rates against strong comparators. Citalopram alone did not beat placebo — but it did help the depression that often travels with grief.
A network meta-analysis of 54 trials put behavioural and cognitive therapies ahead of the drugs on OCD symptoms. But most therapy trials also allowed antidepressants, hinting the two work best together.
A Cochrane network meta-analysis compared eight talking therapies for panic disorder. Cognitive behavioural therapy came out ahead most often — but the effects were small and the evidence graded low throughout.
In a 304-veteran trial, prazosin matched placebo on trauma nightmares and sleep quality. Sleep medicine's one recommended treatment for nightmare disorder is a behavioural therapy, not a drug.
The largest network meta-analysis of social anxiety disorder ranked 41 options against each other. Individual CBT came out on top, and it was one of only two treatments to clearly beat a placebo.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is one of the few non-hormone options the North American Menopause Society backs at its top evidence level. What it changes is how much flushes bother you, not the thermostat.
In the largest head-to-head trial, a simpler therapy delivered by junior staff matched full CBT — mean difference 0.1 PHQ-9 points. A Cochrane review finds no difference between the two.
In the largest network meta-analysis, EMDR and trauma-focused CBT were the most effective treatments for adults with PTSD. The evidence is graded moderate-to-low, and the eye movements may not be why it works.
A Cochrane review of 79 trials and 24,308 patients found the primary-care model helps with depression and anxiety, modestly in the short and medium term and not at all in the very long term.
A network meta-analysis of 331 trials and 34,285 adults found no significant differences between the main psychotherapies, with one exception. In children and adolescents the picture is narrower.
A network meta-analysis of 101 trials and 11,910 patients found no significant difference between psychotherapy and medication for adult depression — and a consistent advantage for combining them.
The largest syntheses find apps beat doing nothing on depression and anxiety by about a third of a standard deviation — but the edge shrinks against real treatment, and one umbrella review found no convincing proof.
Seventy-three trials, and a familiar pattern: the benefit versus no treatment shrinks by a third when only the best-conducted studies are counted. The head-to-head comparisons rest on a few hundred people.
In 270 patients whose voices persisted despite antipsychotics, the therapy beat matched clinical contact on hallucination severity by 2.26 points — significant, with a Cohen's d of 0.27.