What is it about?
Young people at risk for depression used an app with different cognitive-behavioural therapy features. We found that the extent to which young people used those features involving learning about being more active and making plans to be more active, even if only used once, was associated with reduced depression.
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Why is it important?
This finding is important because it suggests that that learning about and changing behaviour may be one of the more important ingredients of cognitive-behavioural therapy for depression. It also indicates that even single use can be beneficial.
Perspectives
This paper was an unexpected finding from a secondary analysis of a large-scale trial that was conducted with many wonderful colleagues. I am excited and hopeful that these findings might help us to build better and more accessible therapies - the opportunity to offer brief treatments digitally that can help thousands of people could be an important addition to our armoury to tackle the important global problem of poor mental health.
Edward Watkins
University of Exeter
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Brief use of behavioral activation features predicts benefits of self-help app on depression symptoms: Secondary analysis of a selective prevention trial in young people., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, April 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/ccp0000917.
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