The primary focus of classic cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depression and anxiety
is on decreasing symptoms of psychopathology. However, there is increasing recognition that
it is also important to enhance wellbeing during therapy. This study investigates the extent to
which classic CBT for anxiety and depression leads to ...
The primary focus of classic cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depression and anxiety
is on decreasing symptoms of psychopathology. However, there is increasing recognition that
it is also important to enhance wellbeing during therapy. This study investigates the extent to
which classic CBT for anxiety and depression leads to symptom relief versus wellbeing
enhancement, analysing routine outcomes in patients receiving CBT in high intensity
Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) Services in the UK. At intake, there
were marked symptoms of anxiety and depression (a majority of participants scoring in the
severe range) and deficits in wellbeing (a majority of participants classified as languishing,
relative to general population normative data). CBT was more effective at reducing
symptoms of anxiety and depression than repairing wellbeing. As a result, at the end of
treatment, a greater proportion of participants met recovery criteria for anxiety and
depression than had moved from languishing into average or flourishing levels of wellbeing.
Given the importance of wellbeing to client definitions of recovery, the present results
suggest a greater emphasis should be placed on enhancing wellbeing in classic CBT.