A clinical effectiveness trial comparing ACT and CBT for inpatients with depressive and mixed mental disorders.

AbstractObjective: Meta-analyses show that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an efficacious treatment for a wide range of mental health problems. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of ACT in naturalistic inpatient settings and in direct comparison to Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of ACT and CBT with regard to depression, general symptom strain and life satisfaction. Method: 177 inpatients in a psychiatric ward were included in the study and assigned to either ACT or CBT group intervention. All patients were assessed with the SCID-I interview and disorder-specific questionnaires as well as with a satisfaction with life scale. To control for confounding variables, amongst others, treatment integrity was evaluated. Results: Both the ACT and CBT intervention showed a large, statistically significant and stable symptom reduction over six months across all outcomes. Both approaches led to small improvement in life satisfaction. With regards to depressive symptoms, more than half of the patients reliably recovered due to therapy. Conclusion: ACT and CBT were similarly effective in treating patients with depressive and other mental disorders in a routine clinical setting. ACT is a viable alternative to CBT for treating inpatients.

[Comorbidity of hypoglycaemia anxiety and panic disorder in a patient with type-1 diabetes - Combined treatment with cognitive-behavioral therapy and Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) in a psychosomatic day-treatment center]. / Komorbidität von Hypoglykämieangst und Panikstörung bei einer Patientin mit Typ-1-Diabetes ­ Kombinationsbehandlung mit Verhaltenstherapie und kontinuierlicher Glukosemessung (CGM) in einer psychosomatischen Tagesklinik.

CLINICAL HISTORY AND FINDINGS: A patient with T1DM, panic disorder and hypoglycaemia fear diabetes duration 4 years, BMI 25. 6, was treated in the day clinic psychosomatics with a multimodal treatment approach. She reports severe fear of hypoglycaemia and repeated hypoglycaemia. Fearing hypoglycaemia, the patient changed her diabetes self-management and thus experienced limitations in her everyday functionality. DIAGNOSIS: Diabetes mellitus type 1, panic disorder and exaggerated fear of hypoglycaemia. THERAPY: The combination of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and a symptom record diary from classical cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and in addition a multimodal psychotherapeutic group intervention based on Acceptance and Commitmenttherapy (ACT) were applied. The patient learned to differentiate between symptoms of panic attacks and symptoms due to low blood glucose levels. CONCLUSION: The combination of psychotherapeutic measures with CGM appears to be a helpful approach to the treatment of disease-specific mental disorders in diabetes mellitus.