Predicting outcomes of group cognitive behavior therapy for patients with affective and neurotic disorders.
Low self-esteem and high baseline stress warn of poorer CBT stress outcomes, but this paper offers no direct therapy effect.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Staddon et al. (2002) looked at what predicts success in group CBT.
They measured stress, self-esteem, anxiety, daily functioning, and locus of control before therapy started.
All clients had anxiety or mixed mood disorders and attended regular hospital outpatient groups.
What they found
Pretreatment self-esteem and symptom severity foretold later stress scores.
The pattern differed by diagnosis, but the paper gives no actual therapy outcome data.
How this fits with other research
Halford et al. (2002) ran the same pre-post design the same year and also found baseline factors matter, yet showed maladaptive schemas did not hurt CBT gains.
Laugeson et al. (2014) extended the idea to autistic youth: group CBT still cut depression and stress, proving the format works beyond anxious adults.
Li et al. (2023) moved the lens to parents: cognitive programs still lowered stress and depression, showing the predictor theme holds across roles.
Arwert et al. (2020) flipped the question with an RCT and showed CBT clearly lifts quality of life, something the 2002 paper never tested.
Why it matters
You now know low self-esteem or high intake stress can flag clients who need extra support during group CBT.
While the study gives no ABA intervention data, pairing CBT groups with behavioral skills training could shore up those at-risk clients.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add a quick self-esteem rating to your intake form; flag scores in the bottom third for added behavioral activation within the CBT group.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
An attempt was made to predict outcomes following group Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for patients with affective and neurotic disorders. A group of 348 patients at a private psychiatric clinic, treated in a group CBT program, completed the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) before and after treatment. Prior to treatment, data from the Locus of Control of Behavior (LCB), a Global Assessment of Function (GAF), the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS), and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSE) were also collected. Results indicated that posttreatment stress scores of all patients were predicted by pretreatment stress and self-esteem. Among patients with neurotic disorders, posttreatment anxiety was predicted by initial anxiety and self-esteem whereas among patients with affective disorders, posttreatment anxiety scores were predicted by initial anxiety and GAF. For patients with neurotic disorders, self-esteem did not predict variance in posttreatment depression in addition to that explained by pretreatment depression. In contrast, for patients with affective disorders, pretreatment depression and Locus of Control predicted posttreatment depression.
Behavior modification, 2002 · doi:10.1177/014544502236655