RELAX trial: online therapy keeps pregnancy anxiety from rising, study finds
By Vikram JoshiLife Balance Correspondent, Peepals Shakti
Representative image: Firmbee / Pixabay
A King's College London trial of 268 pregnant people, published on 4 November 2026, found a 12-session online therapy kept anxiety lower before and after birth.
What Happened
A short, self-guided online therapy called RELAX stopped anxiety from building up during pregnancy and after birth in a randomised trial led by King's College London. The results, published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, showed that pregnant participants who used RELAX alongside their usual care had lower anxiety than those who received usual care alone. Depression and repetitive negative thinking were also lower in the RELAX group.
Key Facts
- The trial is called RELAX, short for REducing Levels of AnXiety, and was led by researchers at King's College London.
- It enrolled 268 pregnant participants; 134 were given RELAX in addition to usual care and the rest received usual care only.
- Participants were over 18, between 16 and 28 weeks pregnant, and reported high levels of repetitive negative thinking with no more than moderate anxiety.
- RELAX is web-based and consists of 12 brief online sessions done on a laptop or tablet over four weeks, built around listening to scenarios.
- The main result: anxiety scores on the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale were 1.5 points lower in the RELAX group than in the usual-care group.
- The RELAX group also recorded lower depression before and after childbirth and less repetitive negative thinking, the mental habit the therapy targets.
- The lead researcher is Colette Hirsch, Professor of Cognitive Clinical Psychology at King's College London.
Why It Matters
Anxiety during pregnancy and after birth is common, and it can affect a woman's sleep, work, relationships and how she feels in the early months with a baby. Most help is offered only once anxiety has become severe enough to be diagnosed. The RELAX trial tested a different idea: reaching women earlier, while their anxiety is still mild or moderate, and trying to stop it from getting worse.
The therapy focuses on repetitive negative thinking, which means getting stuck in cycles of worry or going over the same negative thoughts again and again. The researchers chose participants who reported high levels of this habit, because it is linked to anxiety rising over time. RELAX trains people to break these cycles through short sessions that they complete on their own, without a therapist in the room.
For working women and busy mothers-to-be, the format matters. A programme that runs on a laptop or tablet in short sessions can fit around a job, antenatal appointments and family duties, and it does not depend on finding a trained therapist nearby. The trial itself, however, tested RELAX only in the group of participants it recruited; it does not show how well the programme would work in other countries or languages.
The study also has clear limits that readers should keep in mind. It was designed for people with mild to moderate anxiety and high repetitive negative thinking, not for those with severe anxiety or other mental health conditions. It was added to usual care rather than replacing it. Anyone worried about their mental health during or after pregnancy should speak to their doctor or midwife.
Peepals calculation: Half of the participants received the therapy (134 of 268 = 50%), so the comparison was between two equal groups of 134. The programme's 12 sessions over four weeks work out to about three sessions a week (12 / 4 = 3). Our calculation from the reported figures.
| Detail | RELAX trial |
|---|---|
| Participants | 268 pregnant people |
| Given RELAX plus usual care | 134 |
| Stage of pregnancy at entry | 16 to 28 weeks |
| Programme | 12 online sessions over four weeks |
| Main result | 1.5 points lower anxiety score |
Impact
Short-term: The results give maternity services a tested, low-cost option for women who show early signs of worry and repetitive negative thinking, before anxiety becomes severe.
Long-term: If the findings are repeated in other settings, self-guided programmes like RELAX could become a routine early step in antenatal care, helping more women without adding to the workload of mental health specialists.
Who is affected: Pregnant women and new mothers, especially those prone to persistent worry; midwives, obstetricians and perinatal mental health teams; and health systems looking for ways to offer mental health support at scale.
Key Takeaway
A King's College London trial published on 4 November 2026 found that a 12-session online programme called RELAX kept anxiety lower during pregnancy and after birth than usual care alone.
Questions and Answers
What is the RELAX digital therapy for pregnancy anxiety?
RELAX, short for REducing Levels of AnXiety, is a self-guided, web-based programme of 12 brief sessions over four weeks that trains pregnant people to break cycles of repetitive negative thinking, with the aim of stopping anxiety from increasing.
What did the RELAX trial find?
In a trial of 268 pregnant participants published in JAMA Network Open on 4 November 2026, those who used RELAX with usual care had anxiety scores 1.5 points lower than those with usual care alone, and also had lower depression and less repetitive negative thinking.
Who took part in the study?
Participants were adults over 18 who were 16 to 28 weeks pregnant and reported high levels of repetitive negative thinking with no more than moderate anxiety.
Can RELAX replace treatment from a doctor?
No. In the trial it was used in addition to usual care, and it was tested only in people with mild to moderate anxiety. Anyone concerned about their mental health in pregnancy should consult their doctor or midwife.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
By Vikram Joshi, Life Balance CorrespondentCovers Life Balance and more for Peepals Shakti. All stories by Vikram Joshi
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Vikram Joshi is a pen name of the Peepals Global Editorial Team, which researches, fact-checks and publishes every story. The portrait is an illustration.
