ObjectiveTo compare the effects of simplified cognitive behavior therapy (SCBT), drug therapy, and combined therapy on the quality of life of patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).MethodsPatients with onset of GAD who conformed to the standard of DSM-5 were divided into the SCBT group, SCBT+drug group, and drug group. SCBT, multi-center parallel control method, and blind evaluation were adopted. The major outcome index was the score of quality of life.ResultsA total of 103 patients completed 8 weeks of intervention. Among them, 51 patients were male and 52 patients were female with average age of (37.8±11.6) years. The numbers of patients of three groups were 32, 38, and 33. The differences of age, gender, and education level of three groups were not statistically significant(P>0.05). At baseline, only the difference of social function of three groups was statistically significant (F=3.469, P=0.035) and the level of SCBT+drug group was obviously lower than that of other two groups. By the end of the 8 weeks, the covariance analysis showed that only the difference of body pain of three groups was statistically significant (F=3.644, P=0.030) and the level of drug group was obviously higher than that of other two groups. Comparison among groups indicated that except the role limitation and vitality due to the physical health problem, the differences of scores of other 6 dimensions of the SCBT group before and after treatment were statistically significant (P<0.05). The differences of scores of all 8 dimensions of the SCBT+drug group before and after treatment were statistically significant (P<0.05). Except the body function, the differences of scores of other 7 dimensions of the drug group before and after treatment were statistically significant (P<0.05). The differences of HAMA scores of three groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). The differences of HAMD scores of three groups were not statistically significant (P>0.05).ConclusionSCBT, drug therapy, and combined therapy are all helpful for improving the quality of life of GAD patients and the differences of three therapies are no significant.