Changes in positive affect in cognitive-behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders
Open accessAbstract
Objective This study evaluated changes in positive affect within cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBT) for anxiety disorders. It was hypothesized that there would be significantly greater increases in positive affect in CBT conditions compared to the waitlist, and particularly higher in the Unified Protocol (UP) than the single disorder protocols (SDP) given the UP's focus on emotions (including positive emotions) rather than symptoms.Method Patients with heterogeneous anxiety disorders (N = 223) were randomly assigned to the UP, SDP or waitlist. Linear mixed model regression (intent to treat) analyses were used to compare change in positive affect, quality of life, and savoring between patients in the treatment conditions (UP and SDP) versus waitlist conditions. Between condition effect sizes were calculated to assess the magnitude of difference within conditions at post-treatment.Results Results indicated a significant Group (treatment vs. waitlist) × Time (pre- post-treatment) interaction (F(1, 154.36) = 6.75; p = .01) for positive affect in which the treatment group showed significant improvements in positive affect pre- to post-treatment (ESsg = 0.37, SEsg = 0.09, 95% CI [0.20: 0.54]) and the waitlist condition did not. There were no differences between UP and SDP conditions in positive affect at baseline or at post-treatment.Conclusions These results suggest CBT, which typically focuses on reductions in negative affect, may also improve positive affect. The importance of future research evaluating, targeting, and improving positive affect in CBT trials is discussed. Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01243606.
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Barlow's team conducted an RCT that evaluated changes in PA in cognitive-behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders, showing that PA is a malleable construct and can be influenced by CBT.
“Barlow’s team conducted an RCT that evaluated changes in PA in cognitive-behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders, showing that PA is a malleable construct and can be influenced by CBT [87].”
From Negative and positive affect regulation in a transdiagnostic internet-based protocol for emotional disorders: Randomized controlled trial (2021) · cites this paper as [87]
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- Authors
- Wilner Tirpak, J., Cassiello-Robbins, C., Ametaj, A., Olesnycky, O. S., Sauer-Zavala, S., Farchione, T. J., & Barlow, D. H.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- Hofstra University (US)
- Venue
- General Hospital Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-11
- Volume
- 61
- Pages
- 111-115
- ISSN
- 0163-8343 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6861652
- OpenAlex
- W2952328723
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 4.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- General Hospital Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- positive affect, cognitive behavioral therapy, anxiety disorders, Unified Protocol, savoring, quality of life, waitlist control
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Anxiety Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Outcome Assessment, Health Care
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