The right smartphone apps can help people with depression

A team of researchers from Australia's National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), the University of Manchester, Harvard Medical School, and the Black Dog Institute inspected 22 different smartphone -based mental health treatment.

According to Science Daily, the research published in World Psychiatry showed that overall, smartphone applications notably decreased the symptoms, pointing that these digital technologies can be beneficial in handling the situations. Interestingly, smartphone-based interventions tested in the control trials were able to reduce depressive symptoms [VIDEO]. All of them examined the effects of Smartphone apps with depression patients. However, such treatments can be very costly or unavailable for patients, especially in some countries in which mental health disorders are not considered as a real medical condition.

The effectiveness of smartphone apps as a tool to treat depression has been proven in an Australian-led study. The study involved 3,414 participants between the ages of 18-59 and suffered from some conditions such as bipolar disorder, insomnia, anxiety, major depression and mild depression. As such, health organizations and even companies all over the world are continuous in educating the public and looking for ways to diagnose, help and treat people with the condition.

Joseph Firth, lead author on the study, says, "Combined with the rapid technological advances in this area, these devices may ultimately be capable of providing instantly accessible and highly effective treatments for depression, reducing the societal and economic burden of this condition worldwide". "Using apps as part of an "integrative medicine" approach for depression has been demonstrated to be particularly useful for improving mood and tackling symptoms in these patients", said Professor Sarris.

Surprisingly, there is no significant difference between apps that apply principles of mindfulness and apps focusing on cognitive behavioral therapy, or the so-called mood monitoring programs.

The researchers observed that "self-contained" apps, or interventions exclusively based on the smartphone, have greater effects than apps used in tandem with other human or computerized aspects.

The authors suggested this might be due to the comprehensiveness of these particular stand-alone apps rather than the combination of therapies.

Despite the promising early results, there is now no evidence to suggest that using apps alone can outperform standard psychological therapies, or reduce the need for antidepressant medications. The scientists suggested that these treatments are most effective for the people who are suffering from mild to moderate depression.

Further, with the array of mental health management apps already launched, their research can help to begin identifying which apps actually work, and which apps do not.