A new study by mental health experts has found that easy-access, remotely-delivered psychological treatment can significantly reduce extreme health anxiety in people who repeatedly go to the doctor, or hospital emergency departments. The researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Institute of Mental Health and NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) East Midlands* carried out a multi-centre trial to compare the effects of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) delivered by phone or video calling, to standard treatment via their GP and the mental health referral system.

The NIHR-funded study found that the randomly selected group of patients who received sessions of remote CBT via telephone or online video calling had markedly reduced health anxiety in the 12 months after the start of this treatment and the cost savings to the NHS were more than £1,000 per patient. The results, published in BMC Medicine, also show that general anxiety and depression in these patients improved over the same period, as did their overall health.