Experimental evaluation of behavioral activation treatment of anxiety (BATA) in three older adults.

This report describes three single-case experimental evaluations of Behavioral Activation
Treatment of Anxiety (BATA) applied with a 51-year-old male, a 62-year-old female, and a 53-year-old
female, each of whom met DSM-IV criteria for anxiety. Each case was a clinical replication of an initial
trial of BATA reported in Turner and Leach (2009). Treatment was delivered in twelve weekly 60-minute
individual sessions and evaluated using an A-B-C phase change with repeated measurement design.
Decreased scores in self-reported anxiety were obtained in each case and the improvements were
maintained during a 3-month no treatment maintenance phase. Compared to baseline, each participant also
recorded increases in activity levels in some key life areas during the treatment phase. These preliminary
findings suggest that increased activation in functionally positive areas is associated with reported
decreases in anxiety and that BATA could be an effective stand-alone treatment for anxiety in adults.