Efficacy of group psychotherapy for anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective

This meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of group psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Method: A comprehensive literature search using PubMed, PsychInfo, Web of Science, CENTRAL, and manual searches was conducted to locate randomized controlled trials. We found 57 eligible studies (k = 76 comparisons) including 3656 participants receiving group psychotherapy or an alternative treatment for generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.

Results

Effect size estimates show that group psychotherapy reduces specific symptoms of anxiety disorders more effectively than no-treatment control groups (g = 0.92, [0.81; 1.03], k = 43) and treatments providing common unspecific treatment factors (g = 0.29 [0.10; 0.48], k = 12). No significant differences were found compared to individual psychotherapy (g = 0.24 [-0.09; 0.57], k = 7) or pharmacotherapy (g = -0.05 [-0.33; 0.23], k = 6). The effects were unrelated to factors of the group treatment. Within head-to-head studies, a significant moderating effect emerged for researcher allegiance.

Conclusions

Our results support the efficacy of group psychotherapy for anxiety disorders. They indicate that mixed-diagnoses groups are equally effective as diagnosis-specific groups, although further evidence is required. Future primary studies should address differential effectiveness, include a wider range of therapeutic approaches as well as active comparison groups.