Anxiety and depression are common, and recovery is difficult when they occur together. The symptoms of depression make it difficult for people to have the energy to become more active, while the symptoms of anxiety encourage people to avoid doing what they should do, or make them worry excessively. Anxiety and depression affect confidence and self esteem.

Treatment for Depression and Anxiety

Recovery is difficult when you have both depression and anxiety. But, treatment can work. The best treatments involve learning about your symptoms, learning how to control those symptoms (using cognitive and behavioural techniques or CBT), and gradually resuming your usual activities. Learning to beat your depression and anxiety takes courage, commitment, and practice.

You can talk to your General Practitioner about getting a referral to a Clinical Psychologist, Psychiatrist, or another mental health professional to learn to manage your anxiety. Or, you can try our new Wellbeing Program.

What is the Wellbeing Program?

The Wellbeing Program is our new Internet-based program designed to teach people with depression and anxiety how to manage their symptoms. We developed the Wellbeing Program because many people with depression and anxiety never seek treatment, but many have access to the Internet. Also, because depression and anxiety commonly occur at the same time we thought it was important to provide information about managing each condition in the same program. Technically, this type of program is called a Transdiagnostic Program, because it targets more than one type of condition at a time.

The new Wellbeing Program aims to provide good education and guidance on simple but effective treatment techniques for the symptoms of depression and anxiety. We hope it will help people to gain better control over their symptoms, improve their confidence, and get back to living a full and satisfying life.

The First Research Trial

We are just finishing our first trial of the Wellbeing Program. The results have been good, with most people reporting a significant improvement in mood and anxiety. We are currently improving this program based on the feedback we have received from the first 75 participants.

The Next Research Trial

In early 2011 we will begin a large trial of the Wellbeing Program, which will compare a guided vs. self-guided version of the Wellbeing Program. If you are interested in participating in this program, please register your interest and we will email you if and when applications open. To register your interest, please click on the "Contact Us" tab, and then follow the prompts to register your interest.

Page Last Updated 2 August,  2010, by Dr Nickolai Titov