Internet based self-help therapy versus waitlist control group for persons with anxiety disorders: A randomised feasibility study

Background: Public mental health care services plan to implement internet based self-help psychotherapy (IBT) as an important supplement to ordinary
face to face therapy. Although meta-analytic studies show that the effect of IBT is better than no intervention and equals ordinary therapy for
common mental disorders, national authorities call for more evidence based on randomised clinical trials.
Objective: To investigate if persons with an anxiety disorder treated in the IBT program FearFighter will improve and recover.
Method: A randomised feasibility study with 64 participants allocated to A) FearFighter or B) waitlist control group. Participants are persons with a
diagnosis of social phobia, agora phobia, phobia or panic disorder. The intervention with FearFighter is a nine step cognitive behavioural self-help
therapy program delivered over the internet over nine weeks. Participants are contacted by a support person once a week to secure compliance and
progress.
Primary outcome is number of participants recovered measured with Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Secondary outcomes are Beck
Anxiety Inventory, Symptom Check List-90R, WHO Well-Being Index and Sheehan Disability Scale. Group differences in number of recovered participants
will be analyzed with chi-2 test. Between groups effects on secondary outcome measures will be analyzed with ANOVA.
Results: Results are expected during the autumn 2015. If IBT results in recovery or significant improvement in symptoms, national evidence for IBT is
warranted and a larger randomised clinical trial can be planned together with further explorative studies to gain insight in the mechanisms of IBT.