mental health apps help high-risk youth

Numerous studies have demonstrated an increase in depressive and anxiety disorders among adolescents in recent years. While the phenomenon worries specialists and the population, a new study carried out by the University of Exeter highlights an effective treatment tool for a young audience: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) applications.

Through two articles published in the journal Lancet Digital Healthresearchers from the University of Exeter confirm that these mobile solutions help prevent depression in high-risk young people.

Depression: young people at high risk benefit from CBT apps

To assess the effectiveness or otherwise of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) applications for young people at risk of depression, researchers brought together 3,700 young people in the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Spain aged between 16 and 22. . They were assigned to two trials based on their emotional competence abilities at the start of the study.

After testing, 1,200 participants displayed reduced emotional competence scores. Which reflects a greater risk of depression or even increased worry and excessive thinking in relation to others. They integrated the research component focused on prevention. The other 2,500 volunteers, not at risk of depressive disorder, joined the research focusing on promoting well-being.

These two groups were then randomly assigned one of three different apps developed by the study. There was a self-monitoring app where people can report their emotions every day, a solution that offered personalized emotional skills training as well as a mobile tool based on the principles of CBT. Participants were then followed up at three months and 12 months to see how their well-being and depressive symptoms had changed.

Mental health: the application is easy to deploy to a young audience

Analysis of the results reveals that the application of cognitive behavioral therapy prevented an increase in depression in young people at highest risk. On the other hand, there was no difference between the three types of solutions tested for participants with lower risks of depression.

“For high-risk youth, our results suggest that the CBT app has a preventive effect on depression and may have a public health benefit. Participants’ quality of life measures were better, and their reported work and social functioning were better”specifies Professor Ed Watkins of the University of Exeter in a press release. “On the other hand, we also found that it is difficult to make improvements to young people who are fundamentally doing well.”

For him, it would be interesting to promote applications dedicated to mental health and cognitive-behavioral therapy among young people most at risk. However, this would require targeting work beforehand. “Our results confirm that depression prevention works best when we identify and select people who are more at risk, rather than taking a more universal approach. This identification could be done through an online self-selection process or through a professional reference”adds the expert.

In their next work, the British researchers plan to identify the active elements of the CBT application which have proven beneficial to young people or to improve engagement and use of this solution.