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The largest ever trial of computer-delivered psychotherapy is being undertaken by Simon Gilbody, Professor of Psychological Medicine at HYMS and the University of York, and the University’s Mental Health Research Group.
© HYMS 2010

OCTOBER/ NOVEMBER 2010

‘REEACT’ trials depression treatments
Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is effective at alleviating symptoms of depression, but access to CBT within the NHS is limited and often has long waiting lists. Recently, therapists have designed computer-led therapy programmes which incorporate CBT principles which can be made available through the internet. The REEACT study is a large multicentre randomised controlled trial investigating the clinical and cost effectiveness of computerised Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (cCBT) for depression being led by Professor Simon Gilbody at HYMS. The study is investigating two cCBT programmes, one which is freely available on the internet and one which is a licensed product which incurs a fee per user. Participants are randomly assigned to receive one of the cCBT packages, together with usual GP care, or may be assigned to a control group who receive usual GP care alone. All participants are followed up at set time points for 2 years Continued on page 2...


Depression causes misery to many people and is a major health problem in the UK: we know that at any one time more than one in ten people in Great Britain are suffering from some form of depression. The majority of people with depression receive care from their GP and rarely see a specialist, although many would also like to receive a ‘talking treatment’ (counselling or psychotherapy). There is a growing evidence base to suggest that therapist-led Cognitive


REEACT trials

...Continued from page 1 to monitor the severity of their depression as well as other aspects of health, such as quality of life. A concurrent economic evaluation is also taking place to investigate the cost-effectiveness of providing people with cCBT. REEACT has been recruiting since August 2009 and is running in just over 100 GP practices across four study centres based at the Universities of York, Bristol, Manchester and Sheffield. To date, more than 600 people with depression have been enrolled in the study and the team hopes to hit its recruitment target of 690 by the end of the year, earlier than originally planned. The qualitative aspect of the study is now about to begin, led by the research team at the University of Manchester. This is to assess the acceptability of computerised therapy to patients, from a user perspective, and GPs, as potential referrers to this type of treatment. Due to the expected early completion of recruitment to the original REEACT trial a further study, REEACT-2, is currently being developed to investigate the effect of providing telephone support to people accessing cCBT. Evidence suggests that people can find it difficult to engage with the cCBT programmes, so by providing additional support we may be able to enhance any potential health benefits. For further information about the study, contact trial support officer Gwen Brierley ([e-mail]).

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