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Chapter 3 - Efficacy of CBT: A Brief Outline and Review

from Part I - An Overview of the Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2025

Jessica Davies ,
Paul Salkovskis  and
Kenneth Laidlaw
Foreword by
Judith S. Beck
Jessica Davies
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Paul Salkovskis
Affiliation:
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust & University of Oxford
Kenneth Laidlaw
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Judith S. Beck
Affiliation:
Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy & University of Pennsylvania
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Summary

Describe in brief a comprehensive overview of the evidence-base for CBT across the range of common mental health conditions.

Critically appraise the evidence-base for CBT for depression and the anxietry disorders.

Exercise choice for your treatment approach based on the evidence-base for CBT.

Use the evidence-base for CBT to support the use of CBT where treatment protocols are lacking or are under-developed.

Better equipped to function more confidently as an evidence-based clinician by appraising yourself of outcome literature for CBT.

Keywords

RCTTreatment ProtocolsEBPSystematic ReviewMeta Analysis

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Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Guide to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) , pp. 22 - 36
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

The following sources provide more in-depth coverage of topics raised in this chapter.

Some recent comprehensive reviews of the efficacy of CBT across a range of conditions and population can be consulted:

American Psychological Association. (2019). Clinical practice guideline for the treatment of depression across three age cohorts. www.apa.org/depression-guideline.Google Scholar
Bhattacharya, S, Goicoechea, C, Heshmati, S, Carpenter, JK, Hofmann, S. Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety-related disorders: A meta-analysis of recent literature. Current Psychiatry Reports, 2023;25:19–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-022-01402-8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cuijpers, P, Miguel, C, Harrer, M, Plessen, CY, Ciharova, M, Ebert, D, Karyotaki, E. Cognitive behavior therapy vs. control conditions, other psychotherapies, pharmacotherapies and combined treatment for depression: A comprehensive meta-analysis including 409 trials with 52,702 patients. World Psychiatry, 2023;22:105–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Fordham, B, Sugavanam, T, Edwards, K, Stallard, P, Howard R, das Nair R et al. The evidence for cognitive behavioural therapy in any condition, population or context: A metareview of systematic reviews and panoramic meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 2021;51:21–29. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720005292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fukomori, M, Kikuchi, T, Zhou, Y, Hittori, S, Kudo, T. Network meta-analysis of the effectiveness of psychotherapies with or without medication for treating adult depression. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 2024;36(6):423–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werson, A, Meiser-Stedman, R, Laidlaw, K. A meta-analysis of CBT efficacy for depression comparing adults and older adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2022;319:189–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

References

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