Revisiting the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural therapy for depression and anxiety in old age: Preliminary findings on the extraversion-neuroticism confounding effects

Previous works states that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for both anxiety and depression across the lifespan. Studies found the effect of CBT to be respectively large and moderate when compared with waitlist conditions and other control groups. However, given that personality is an individual’s unique genetic composition, enduring and generally resistant to sudden changes, this preliminary study addressed these questions: (a) Is CBT effective for the management of depression and anxiety among a sample of community older adults? and (b) If so, is the effectiveness maintained after excluding extraversion, neuroticism, perception of social support, physical health problems and self-rated health (SRH)? Three independent models were examined using one-way MANCOVA. In the initial model, CBT was effectively compared to the waitlist condition after excluding depression/anxiety baseline scores. This effectiveness was lost after excluding anxiety and depression in the second model. However, CBT regained its efficacy by excluding the perception of social support, physical health problems and SRH in the third model. Preliminary findings suggest that extraversion and neuroticism may substantially confound, or account for, the apparent effect of CBT on depression and anxiety in this population. These findings, however, are largely exploratory. Future studies can employ randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes to replicate outcomes.