NCT07522775

Durability of the Effects of Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Durability of the Therapeutic Effects of Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Common Mental Disorders: a Long Term Follow-up on Relapse

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 806 (actual)
• Sponsor: New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This exploratory study investigates the relapse condition in Hong Kong adults after low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LICBT) treatment for 18 to 48 months with a 6-month interval. Individuals who received LICBT treatment between 2017 and 2020 will be recruited to assess their current mental health status. It is hypothesised that the improvements in depression and anxiety scores will be maintained at 18-to-48-month follow-up.

Detailed description

The most prevalent common mental disorders worldwide are depression and anxiety. A local morbidity study illustrated that the prevalence rate for any common mental disorders is 13.3% in Hong Kong. Due to the huge demand for mental health services in Hong Kong, the waiting time for a new referral is around 1 year. Psychotherapies are suggested as first-line treatment for mood disorders, and while the effectiveness of traditional cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is consistently replicated, it is comparatively expensive and time-consuming. As a result, the delivery of traditional CBT alone cannot handle the huge demands for mental health service usage. To tackle this challenge, low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LICBT) was developed in the United Kingdom (UK) to help individuals with lower severity of common mental disorders. Local effectiveness of LICBT was supported by a pilot study in a Hong Kong community centre. In accordance with the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, service users were offered a brief treatment comprising six to eight structured sessions, in which they were assessed to identify the presenting problems and taught psychological tools to cope with their distress. Large effect sizes were reported for clinical improvements in depression and anxiety and satisfactory outcomes were also achieved. Despite the strong support for the short-term benefits of LICBT, depression and anxiety disorders are prone to relapse. Therefore, it is of great interest to investigate the long-term effects of LICBT.

Conditions

• Common Mental Disorders (CMD)

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy	Low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LICBT) is a briefer form of the traditional cognitive behavioural therapy developed to help individuals with a lower severity of common mental disorders. LICBT is conducted in the form of individual guided self-help and comprises six to eight structured sessions in which psychological tools such as behavioural activation, worrying time, problem solving, exposure and habituation, and exposure and response prevention are taught.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-10-02
• Primary completion: 2022-04-09
• Completion: 2022-04-09
• First posted: 2026-04-13
• Last updated: 2026-04-13

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Hong Kong