ABSTRACT
Clients suffering from generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) are probably the population most amenable to a group intervention amongst sufferers from depression and the anxiety disorders. So much so that White et al. (1992) evaluated a purely didactic CBT programme for generalised anxiety disorder in which treatment consisted of groups of 20 or more clients attending six 2-hour ‘evening classes’ for ‘stress control’. Clients were told that no personal problems were to be discussed. Although there was no individual CBT control group, the results of the large group programme were comparable to those found in GAD programmes up to that time and were judged more cost-effective. Interestingly in a comparison of individual and group CBT for GAD, Dugas et al. (2003) found that both were equally effective and produced very positive outcomes for approximately two-thirds of clients with GAD. However, Dugas et al. (2003) also urged caution as whilst there were no dropouts from individual CBT, 5 out of 48 dropped out of GCBT. In the Dugas et al. (2003) study the groups were much smaller, 4–6 clients, than in the White et al. (1992) study.
