ABSTRACT
Background
Threatened abortion is a common complication of pregnancy that is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes. Psychotherapy can be an effective intervention for managing psychiatric disorders related to threatened abortion (TA).
Aim
We assessed the effect of internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) and Internet-based unified protocol (iUP) on depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in women with TA.
Methods
This comparative effectiveness randomised controlled trial compared two internet-based psychotherapies (iUP vs. iCBT). Participants were 116 pregnant women with TA who were clinically diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Participants were selected from the Obstetric Clinic of a referral hospital in Babol City, Iran. Both interventions consisted of 8 weeks with 45 min internet-based psychotherapy sessions. The primary outcome was depression, while secondary outcomes included anxiety, obsession-compulsion, and emotion regulation.
Results
Both Specific iUP and iCBT significantly reduced the depression, emotion regulation, anxiety, and OCD symptoms in women with TA after treatment, and the symptom improvement was unchanged 3 months post-treatment. Also, after the therapy and at 3-month follow-up, iUP improvements were not inferior to iCBT for decreasing anxiety, depression, and OCD symptoms.
Conclusions
Internet-based unified transdiagnostic therapy is a comparably safe and effective alternative to specific iCBT therapies in women experiencing threatened abortion.
Trial Registration
Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials number: IRCT20110228005931N13. Registration date: 2023-04-13