Routine treatment duration for clients attending a community based anxiety disorders clinic.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the average duration of treatment at a community-based anxiety disorders clinic. METHOD: Data were collected on primary disorder, the presence of co-occurring disorders and treatment length (both in terms of number of sessions and weeks of therapy) for 248 consecutive clients. RESULTS: The mean number of sessions was 13, and average treatment length was 29 weeks. There was substantial variation in treatment duration (range for number of sessions = 1-128, range for treatment duration = 0-186 weeks). CONCLUSION: Clients with anxiety disorders were often treated in relatively few sessions, in line with randomised controlled trials (RCTs). However, a number of clients req..