New online therapies enable more people with anxiety to receive treatment

New online therapies could help double or even treble the number of people who recover from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), research has found.

Four online treatments developed by the University of Oxford will be rolled out across NHS trusts, mental health facilities, schools and colleges from September. The 20 areas signed up to the treatments include West Sussex, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire, Manchester, North Tyneside and London.

NHS England figures show that one in five children and young people have a probable mental disorder, while a quarter of adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any given year. A steep increase in demand and long waiting lists mean that some patients find it difficult to access therapy. There are others who may not be able to attend face-to-face appointments.

Last year the early value assessment (EVA) guidance developed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended a number of online therapies for use across the NHS.

The University of Oxford has licensed a firm called Koa Health to provide four online therapies, which consist of separate online programmes for adults, teenagers and children aged five to 12 with social anxiety, and for adults with PTSD.

Personalised content replicates face-to-face therapy

In the three treatments aimed at teenagers and adults, patients work through a series of online modules with approximately 20-30 minute telephone or video appointments with their therapist. The therapies can be accessed 24 hours a day, and the personalised content has been designed to replicate what a person might receive in traditional face-to-face therapy. The treatment for children requires parents or guardians to be trained to provide the treatment at home, with support from a therapist.

All four of the online platforms have been shown by research studies to be effective. A randomised controlled trial of internet cognitive therapy for adults with social anxiety disorder found that patients recovered just as well as those receiving face-to-face treatment, but instead of it taking 19 hours of clinician time, it took only six-and-a-half hours. A separate trial of the social anxiety internet therapy aimed at adolescents found that 77% of young people no longer had social anxiety at the end of treatment.

David Clark, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford who co-developed the influential cognitive behavioural model of post-traumatic stress disorder, described the research findings as “quite some achievement, because with social anxiety, psychological treatments like general CBT are the least effective.”

He told the Guardian: “Our calculation is that if NHS therapists were able to use these programmes and support people through them, then they would be able to help two to three times the number of patients recover from social anxiety and PTSD.”

Professor Anke Ehlers, a psychologist at the University of Oxford who co-developed the cognitive behavioural model with Clark, led the research trial on the PTSD treatment. “We’ve tested the digital therapy with patients who have PTSD from a broad range of traumas,” she said. “Recovery rates and improvements in quality of life are excellent.” Patients value being able to receive their therapy from home at a time convenient to them, she added.

Kerry McLeod, head of content for Mind, welcomed the expansion of online treatment but added that it was important patients were able to choose what was right for them. She said: “We support the development of new digital therapies, and welcome talking therapies that are more accessible to those who may find face-to-face treatment more challenging.

“Some people will find face-to-face therapies a more beneficial source of support, so it is crucial that people living with mental health problems have a choice in the type of treatment they receive.”