Internet Transdiagnostic-CBT for Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents

Summary

This study represents the first research program to assess the efficacy of transdiagnostic cognitive behavior therapy (T-CBT) delivered via internet for anxiety and depression in adolescents. The primary aim of the study was to implement the program AMTE (Aprende a Manejar tus Emociones \[Learn to Manage Your Emotions\]), an internet delivered T-CBT protocol designed to target both anxiety and depression symptoms and disorders (major depression disorder, dysthymic disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder) in adolescents, and to establish its preliminary efficacy on anxiety and depressive symptomatology. A secondary objective is to demonstrate its potential effect regarding: (a) transdiagnostic measures associated with etiology of emotional disorders including negative affect, anxiety sensitivity, and emotional avoidance, and (b) positive factors including satisfaction with life and positive affect. It is expected that the T-CBT condition will be more effective than an active control condition (ACC) on the primary (anxiety and depression) and secondary (transdiagnostic and positive factors) outcome measures. The study is a randomized controlled trial with two arms (an experimental group and an active control condition). Assessment is contucted at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-up. For ethical reasons, participants in the ACC condition are offered the opportunity to receive the experimental condition (i.e., the iUP-A) following the completion of the post-treatment assessment.

Conditions

• Anxiety Disorder
• Depressive Disorder
• Emotional Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

The AMTE protocol

The AMTE program is an adaptation of the Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adolescents (UP-A; Ehrenreich-May et al., 2018) to be applied as an internet-based protocol. Like the UP-A, the program AMTE implements a set of core principles to address common factors underling youth anxiety and depressive symptoms. It includes the following 8 modules: (1) Unerstanting emotional problems and behaviors and motivational enhancement, (2) Getting to know your emotions and behaviors, (3) Enjoy your positive activities, (4) Mindful emotion awareness, (5) Being flexible in your thinking, (6) Confronting physical sensations, (7) Situational emotion exposure, and (8) Relapse prevention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Bonifacio Sandín, Ph.D. · Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain

• Paloma Chorot, Ph.D. · Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain

• Rosa M. Valiente, Ph.D. · Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-11-15

Primary Completion

2023-06-30

Completion

2023-09-30

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations