Durability of the Therapeutic Effects of Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Common Mental Disorders: a Long Term Follow-up on Relapse

The most prevalent common mental disorders worldwide are depression and anxiety. A local morbidity study illustrated that the prevalence rate for any common mental disorders is 13.3% in Hong Kong. Due to the huge demand for mental health services in Hong Kong, the waiting time for a new referral is around 1 year. Psychotherapies are suggested as first-line treatment for mood disorders, and while the effectiveness of traditional cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is consistently replicated, it is comparatively expensive and time-consuming. As a result, the delivery of traditional CBT alone cannot handle the huge demands for mental health service usage. To tackle this challenge, low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LICBT) was developed in the United Kingdom (UK) to help individuals with lower severity of common mental disorders.

Local effectiveness of LICBT was supported by a pilot study in a Hong Kong community centre. In accordance with the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, service users were offered a brief treatment comprising six to eight structured sessions, in which they were assessed to identify the presenting problems and taught psychological tools to cope with their distress. Large effect sizes were reported for clinical improvements in depression and anxiety and satisfactory outcomes were also achieved. Despite the strong support for the short-term benefits of LICBT, depression and anxiety disorders are prone to relapse. Therefore, it is of great interest to investigate the long-term effects of LICBT.