Mental health apps are everywhere. But do they actually help us?
Text: James Lloyd
James Lloyd is a staff writer at BBC Science Focus.
When it comes to mental health, smartphones usually get a bad rap – studies have linked their overuse to loneliness, depression and sleep deprivation.
But there’s also a growing wellbeing movement built around our phones. A search for ‘mental health’ on the App Store or Google Play throws up hundreds of apps geared towards every aspect of our mental health. There are apps that assess and diagnose our state of mind; apps that allow us to track our feelings and thoughts; apps that provide coping tools, such as meditation and cognitive behavioural therapy; and even therapy chatbots.
According to an NHS digital survey from 2014, around one in six of us experiences depression or an anxiety disorder in any given week. With mental health services increasingly stretched, can these apps provide support to people who are unable to – or don’t want to – access conventional therapies?
“Every country in the world has limited access to mental healthcare, and these apps have the potential to deliver evidence-based treatment to the right people at the right time,” says Dr John Torous, director of the digital psychiatry division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and leader of the American Psychiatric Association’s work group on the evaluation of smartphone apps. However, Torous emphasises the word ‘potential’. There is currently little evidence that these apps can be an effective replacement for standard therapies. In a paper published in December last year in the journal npj Digital Medicine, psychologists in Germany and the Netherlands carried out a meta-analysis of 19 studies that looked at the effectiveness of various mental health apps. The researchers concluded that “using smartphone apps as standalone psychological interventions cannot be recommended based on the current level of evidence”.
Feeling ’appy?
Torous says that mental health apps are most useful when they’re combined with conventional therapy and professional guidance. In another meta-analysis published last year, researchers in Australia, Sweden and the Netherlands found that the effectiveness of smartphone apps in treating depression doubled when guidance was provided by therapists or research staff. “The apps are best used to augment, extend and expand care, not to replace it,” says Torous.
[blur] However, Torous doesn’t believe we should stop downloading mental health apps altogether. They can be helpful on an individual basis, he says, provided we choose them wisely and use them mindfully. They can be a first step towards getting help, for instance, or a useful stopgap for those waiting for treatment. [/blur]
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