Screening and Intervention Reducing Anxiety in Patients With Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD)

Screen-ICD is an investigator-initiated randomised clinical superiority trial with blinded outcome assessment, including two university hospitals, with 1:1 randomisation to cognitive therapy plus usual care or usual care alone. The intervention: all patients receive usual care. Patients in the intervention group will receive an intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy. The intervention consists of three steps: 1. The intervention begins with a consultation with a nurse aiming at uncovering anxiety using the Hamilton anxiety scale and exploring how life with an ICD is perceived, 2. Based on the pre-specified protocols for each type of anxiety, cognitive therapy is provided and 3. After each session participants are asked to fill out the HADS questionnaire. When the patient scores below the cut-off value two times in a row, sessions will end. Each patient can have a maximum of 15 sessions.