Trial reportPloS one2026
Extent of therapeutic support in Positive Psychotherapy: A randomized comparative efficacy study for the treatment of anxiety disorders in an online group setting.
Trial report in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePositive Psychotherapy (PPT) is increasingly being studied as a potential treatment option for psychological diseases. In recent years the internet has been incorporated into traditional face-to-face therapy which, if successful in its treatment outcome, could lead to a more economic and affordable therapy since a certain proportion of therapy could be done without real-time therapist contact. The aim of this study is to investigate whether significant differences in outcome are found when comparing the effectiveness of PPT with complete therapeutic support (cPPT) in treating anxiety disorders compared to PPT with minimal therapeutic supervision (mPPT) in an online group setting. Participants in the cPPT group took part in ten weekly 120-minute online sessions with a therapist, while the mPPT group only had three 60-minute online sessions. For the remaining seven sessions, participants received videos. This paper presents the outcomes of both groups.
methodsThis randomized controlled trial involved 106 participants allocated into either a group with complete therapeutic support (cPPT; n = 53) or a group with minimal supervision (mPPT; n = 53) for ten weeks. Data collection occurred through online questionnaires, evaluating anxiety levels, subjective happiness, quality of life, and psychological distress. These assessments were conducted at three time points: baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1), and three-month follow-up (T2).
resultsSignificant improvements over time were observed in both the cPPT and mPPT groups across several outcomes. Anxiety symptoms decreased substantially from pre-treatment to post-treatment and remained stable at the three-month follow-up. Significant time effects were found for fear and anxiety-related outcomes, including FQ ([Formula: see text]), BAI ([Formula: see text]), PAS ([Formula: see text]), GAD-7 ([Formula: see text]), with gains maintained at the three-month follow-up. Positive psychological outcomes also improved significantly over time. Significant effects were observed for subjective well-being and flourishing, including PPTI ([Formula: see text]), FS ([Formula: see text]), and SWLS ([Formula: see text]). Psychological distress likewise decreased significantly across treatment. Significant time effects were found for ISR ([Formula: see text]), PHQ-9 ([Formula: see text]), with improvements remaining stable at follow-up. In all cases, there were no significant group × time interactions, indicating that the mPPT and cPPT groups showed comparable changes over time.
conclusionOur study did not find significant differences between Positive Psychotherapy with minimal therapeutic supervision and PPT with complete therapeutic supervision. These findings challenge the traditional notion regarding the significance of face-to-face contact and therapist-patient interaction and suggest an economic and efficient alternative to the regular individual face-to-face therapy. As the participants were predominately female, further research should focus on a more gender-equal sample to generalize these findings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.