CBT for adjustment disorder

Recent research

A 2025 review synthesized randomized studies of adjustment-disorder interventions and concluded that face-to-face and internet CBT may reduce symptoms, with important gaps in comparative evidence (Cowansage et al., 2025). The accessible abstract does not provide enough detail for an independent pooled-effect or formal certainty appraisal. Its summary should not become a numerical efficacy claim for a general stress app.

Sources: Cowansage et al., 2025

A current active-control example

A 2026 trial in university students meeting ICD-11 adjustment-disorder criteria compared internet-delivered transdiagnostic CBT, an online progressive-muscle-relaxation intervention, and a waitlist. Both active conditions improved symptoms relative to the waitlist; the abstract reported academic-adjustment improvement for CBT (Juszczyk-Kalina et al., 2026). This illustrates why a waitlist result alone does not show the unique effect of CBT. Reported mediation by self-compassion and avoidance is not by itself proof that experimentally changing those processes causes recovery.

Sources: Juszczyk-Kalina et al., 2026

Limits and research agenda

Short follow-up, a student sample, diagnostic definitions, and limited accessible detail constrain generalization. The active-control finding does not show that CBT outperformed relaxation on every outcome. Ordinary adjustment to change is distinct from a diagnosable disorder. A future digital study would need to record concurrent support, changes in the precipitating stressor, functioning, dropout, and deterioration, so that natural adaptation is not mistaken for a product effect.