Research so far on this course ...

We have conducted 2 trials of this course

More than 250 participants have enrolled in this course

We have published 1 study evaluating this course

Single Session Course (Anxiety and Depression)

Background

We are testing a self-guided version of our Single Session Course for anxiety and depression. This course is designed to provide helpful information and teach practical skills to help people manage symptoms of anxiety and low mood – in just one online lesson alongside downloadable guides.

Research tells us that very short treatments can be just as effective as longer, multiple session treatments. That is, many people with anxiety and depression benefit from very brief courses and support.

We also know that some people do not have the time or do not want to participate in longer treatment courses. Given this, we are now developing and evaluating a brief single session Course for people with anxiety and depression.

We developed the Single Session Course with the hope of helping people manage their depression and anxiety symptoms. Our goal is to understand what makes brief treatments most effective and who finds this kind of course helpful.

To learn more about symptoms of low mood and depression, please click here.

To learn more about anxiety and anxiety disorders, please click here.

Who is the course suitable for?

The course is suitable for adults who:

Are aged 18 and older.
Are experiencing anxiety or depression symptoms
Want to learn information and skills to manage anxiety and depression
Have the time to read the online lesson and practice some of the skills over a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, we cannot include people who are currently suicidal, do not have access to the Internet, are unable to read or understand English, or who are not living in Australia.

What does the course involve?

The course involves:

1 online lessons that provides information and teaches practical skills
1 downloadable guide to help understand and practice those skills
Several additional Resources and Case Stories and examples from others

The course is delivered over 2 to 3 weeks and is designed to provide the same information and teach the same skills as one of our longer courses. However, it does this in a very brief way using one online lesson and one session with a clinician.

The course aims to provide the information and skills that you would normally receive from a Clinical Psychologist.

What have we found so far?

We have now had good number of people complete this course. Participants have reported improvements in their anxiety and depression symptoms.

Although the Course is hard work, most participants say it is worth their time and that they would recommend it to others.

We recently published our first paper on this course:

Bisby MA, Balakumar T, Scott AJ, Titov N, Dear BF (2023). An online therapist-guided ultra-brief treatment for depression and anxiety: a randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine.

What is the current trial or study looking at?

Every time we offer a course, we offer it as a part of a trial or study. This means that participants are helping us to answer an important research question while they participate in our courses.

The current trial is testing a self-guided version of the Single Session Course. Our previous trials included a brief telephone call with a therapist, however many people have benefited without speaking to a therapist in those trials. So, we now want to test a self-guided version.

You can read more about the current trial by reading the Participant Information and Consent Form Statement.

When is the next course being offered?

We are currently not sure when we will run this course again yet.

We are running our last few participants through our most recent trial of the course. We will then be examining all the data and feedback collected through that trial. This work will guide our next steps and any potential changes to the course or how we offer it into the future.

Importantly, if you are interested in the course, you can register your interest via the link below. We will then email you with any updates when we are next offering the course.