NICE Guidelines

On February 26th 2006 the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a technical appraisal recommending that Beating the Blues should be offered as a treatment option for people who have mild and moderate depression in both primary and secondary care. They made this recommendation following a review of all the evidence that was available from published research, reviews by professionals and information provided by organisations that had developed Computerised CBT programs.

Beating the Blues was the only treatment program recommended by NICE for the treatment of people with mild and moderate depression at this time.

Subsequently NICE, in the Depression Guidelines of Oct 2006, broadened the recommendation for CCBT as a whole. Beating the Blues, however has an RCT evidence base on a UK population, meets the state of the art requirements for Data Protection whilst offering a clinician friendly monitoring capability and full customer support.

How Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is used to treat Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the number one treatment of choice for Generalised Anxiety Disorder across the UK. CBT involves amending or changing the process in how you deal with intrusive thoughts. The course will teach you to learn new thinking processes and practical techniques which will help to alleviate the worry and enable you to manage your anxiety.

How the course will help you benefit with Anxiety

By helping you identify your thinking patterns and current behaviours we can learn how to turn around a problematic thinking process and replace it with a new fresh view that will give you your confidence back and reduce your anxiety. By learning to manage the situations, which you previously dreaded, through adopting new strategies to help you feel comfortable in any situation. Discovering these new behavioral strategies will help you feel better and stay better.

How do you know if you are anxious?

The easiest signs of anxiety to recognise are physical changes, such as sweating, a racing heart, palpitations, or rapid breathing. These changes are caused by an increase in adrenaline, the substance which is released by your body to help you get ready to deal with danger or escape from something. It is quite normal to feel anxious when you are facing something dangerous or difficult, but it is not usual to feel anxious all the time or to feel that anxiety is ruling your life. Take our simple online test to see if you are anxious or depressed. Often these two conditions occur together

NICE Guidelines CBT

Through using Beating the Blues digital CBT course, it means that the course can be accessed through devices such as Mobile Phones, Tablets or Computers, which means it can help avoid waiting lists.

NICE recommended CBT in the treatment of the conditions outlined below:

Depression
Anxiety

There are many other areas NICE recommends however, for CCBT they suggest that Depression and Anxiety will benefit the users the most due to the possibility of accessing it digitally.

Claire Murdoch, the National Mental Health Director of NHS England has recently said “ Given how quickly technology is constantly evolving and the fact that young people are usually at the forefront of this change, updating this draft guidance is another step forward.

“Digital and online interventions can play an effective and important role in treatment, particularly when backed up by face to face support, and the NHS Long Term Plan makes clear that the health service will continue to look to harness the benefits these advancements can bring.”

Getting Patients access through the NHS

Your CCG is responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of its patients. CCBT is identified as one of the first interventions that could be offered to people with mild and moderate depression within the published NICE Guidelines about managing Depression.

If Beating the Blues is not available in your area and you think that you or your patients would benefit from having access to CCBT then we suggest that you contact the Mental Health Commissioner to ask them to consider making it available.