Psychological treatments for depression delivered via the internet and supported by a clinician: An update

Guided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) has been tested in many trials since the early studies dating back to the late 1990s. The aim of this review was to investigate the most recent literature on guided ICBT for depression. We identified 11 controlled studies published between January 2013 and September 2014. Overall, large treatment effects were observed with a few exceptions. A majority (7 studies) provided some information regarding unwanted effects such as deterioration. Three studies directly compared guided ICBT against face-to-face CBT. We added an earlier study and calculated meta-analytic summary statistics for the four studies involving a total of 336 participants. The average effect size difference was Hedges g = 0.12 (95% CI: -0.08∼0.32) in the direction of favouring guided ICBT, but with no practical importance. We conclude that guided ICBT is a promising treatment for depression and mood disorders and that the research is rapidly expanding.