Mental Health Online (previously “Anxiety Online”) offers seven free internet-based CBT programs designed to help with depression, panic, social anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and general anxiety and worry. Each program consists of 11–12 modules that can be completed at your own pace, with access for 12 months.
Outside Australia all programs are completed independently, without access to coaches or therapists; Australian residents can complete any program in a therapist-guided format.
Programs
- Depression Online: 11 modules covering symptom identification, behavioural activation, challenging unhelpful thoughts, and lifestyle changes for low mood.
- Panic Stop!: 12 modules on panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia), controlling physical reactions, and reducing panic attacks.
- Social Anxiety Online: 12 modules on relaxation and breathing techniques, challenging unhelpful thoughts, and graded exposure to feared social situations.
- Depression-Anxiety: 12 modules addressing combined symptoms of depression and anxiety at your own pace.
- OCD Stop!: 12 modules combining CBT with exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- PTSD Online: 12 modules on understanding PTSD, relaxation techniques, and changing unhelpful thoughts and beliefs.
- Anxiety and Worry Online: 12 modules on identifying anxiety and worry, replacing unhelpful beliefs, and problem-solving techniques.
Evidence
Efficacy has been evaluated in randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and pretest–posttest studies; the provider supplied a list of peer-reviewed articles on request.
Across multiple programs:
- Pretest–posttest design (2011): Anxiety Online—A Virtual Clinic: Preliminary Outcomes Following Completion of Five Fully Automated Treatment Programs for Anxiety Disorders and Symptoms, N = 225. link
- Pretest–posttest design (2011): Posttreatment Attrition and Its Predictors, Attrition Bias, and Treatment Efficacy of the Anxiety Online Programs, N = 347. link
- Pretest–posttest design (2011): Comorbidity Structure of Psychological Disorders in the Online e-PASS Data as Predictors of Psychosocial Adjustment Measures: Psychological Distress, Adequate Social Support, Self-Confidence, Quality of Life, and Suicidal Ideation, N = 13,414. link
- Pretest–posttest design (2011): Pretreatment Attrition and Formal Withdrawal During Treatment and Their Predictors: An Exploratory Study of the Anxiety Online Data, N = 9,394. link
- Pretest–posttest design (2011): Multiple Comorbidities of 21 Psychological Disorders and Relationships With Psychosocial Variables: A Study of the Online Assessment and Diagnostic System Within a Web-Based Population, N = 12,665. link
- Pretest–posttest design (2014): Therapist-Assisted Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: Translating Evidence into Clinical Practice, N = 221. link
Panic Stop! program:
- Randomized controlled trial (2006): Efficacy of Internet Therapy for Panic Disorder, N = 55. link
- Randomized controlled trial (2006): Internet Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Panic Disorder: Does the Inclusion of Stress Management Information Improve End-State Functioning?, N = 32. link
- Randomized controlled trial (2008): Is Internet-Based CBT for Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia as Effective as Face-To-Face CBT?, N = 86. link
- Quasi-experimental design (2008): A controlled Trial of Internet-Based Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Panic Disorder with Face-To-Face Support from a General Practitioner or Email Support from a Psychologist, N = 65. link
- Quasi-experimental design (2008): Therapist-Assisted, Internet-Based Treatment for Panic Disorder: Can General Practitioners Achieve Comparable Patient Outcomes to Psychologists?, N = 96. link
- Randomized controlled trial (2009): Internet-Based Treatment for Panic Disorder: Does Frequency of Therapist Contact Make a Difference?, N = 57. link
OCD Stop! program:
- Randomized controlled trial (2018): Study Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial of Internet-Based Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. link
- Randomized controlled trial (2018): Therapist-Assisted Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Versus Progressive Relaxation in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial, N = 179. link
PTSD Online program:
- Pretest–posttest design (2009): A Therapist‐Assisted Internet‐Based CBT Intervention for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Preliminary Results, N = 16. link
- Pretest–posttest design (2009): A Therapist-Assisted Cognitive Behavior Therapy Internet Intervention for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Pre-, Post- And 3-Month Follow-Up Results from an Open Trial, N = 22. link
Anxiety and Worry Online program:
- Randomized controlled trial (2021): The Feasibility, Acceptability, and Efficacy of Delivering Internet-Based Self-Help and Guided Self-Help Interventions for Generalized Anxiety Disorder to Indian University Students: Design of a Randomized Controlled Trial, N = 222. link
Mental health experts were involved in the development of the programs.