JMIR Mental Health

Depression is a significant public health issue that can lead to considerable disability and reduced quality of life. With the rise of technology, mobile health (mHealth) interventions, particularly smartphone apps, are emerging as a promising approach for addressing depression. However, the lack of standardized evaluation tools and evidence-based principles for these interventions remains a concern.

Teletherapy apps have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional in-person therapy, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, as they help overcome a range of geographical and emotional barriers to accessing care. However, the rapid proliferation of teletherapy apps has occurred in an environment in which development has outpaced the various regulatory and ethical considerations of this space. Thus, researchers have raised concerns about the ethical implications and potential risks of teletherapy apps given the lack of regulation and oversight. Teletherapy apps have distinct aims to more directly replicate practices of traditional care, as opposed to mental health apps, which primarily provide supplemental support, suggesting a need to examine the ethical considerations of teletherapy apps from the lens of existing ethical guidelines for providing therapy.

ChatGPT, a linguistic artificial intelligence (AI) model engineered by OpenAI, offers prospective contributions to mental health professionals. Although having significant theoretical implications, ChatGPT’s practical capabilities, particularly regarding suicide prevention, have not yet been substantiated.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered widespread adjustments across the US health care system. Telehealth use showed a substantial increase in mental health conditions and services due to acute public health emergency (PHE) behavioral health needs on top of long-standing gaps in access to behavioral health services. How health systems that were already providing behavioral telehealth services adjusted services and staffing during this period has not been well documented, particularly in rural areas with chronic shortages of behavioral health providers and services.

Family carers of youth recovering from early psychosis experience significant stress; however, access to effective family interventions is poor. Digital interventions provide a promising solution.

Previous research demonstrates that less than 50% of military veterans experiencing mental health difficulties seek formal support. Veterans often struggle to identify problems as mental health difficulties. In addition, they may fail to recognize the need for support before reaching a crisis point and face difficulties navigating care pathways to access support.

Blended cognitive behavioral therapy (bCBT)—the combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and digital mental health applications—has been increasingly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. As a resource-efficient treatment approach, bCBT appears promising for addressing the growing need for mental health care services, for example, as an early intervention before the chronification of symptoms. However, further research on the efficacy and feasibility of integrated bCBT interventions is needed.

Over the past decade, there has been growing support for the use of mobile health (mHealth) technologies to improve the availability of mental health interventions. While mHealth is a promising tool for improving access to interventions, research on the effectiveness and efficacy of mHealth apps for youths is limited, particularly for underrepresented populations, including youths of color and economically marginalized youths.

Depression is a worldwide mental disorder and a leading cause of disability. Many people with depression do not want to take medication or have the motivation to seek psychotherapy treatment for many reasons. Guided internet-based self-help programs may be a promising solution for addressing these issues. This kind of intervention has proven to be effective in reducing depression symptoms on a short-term scale. However, as treatment often is a long-term rehabilitation process, it is important to examine not only the short-term effects of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) self-help treatment but also the follow-up or long-term efficacy of this kind of intervention.

Several recent studies examined patient use and satisfaction with synchronous telemental health services in response to the widespread implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a systematic review of recent literature on the determinants of these outcomes is missing.

Depression is a serious and burdensome psychiatric illness that contributes heavily to health expenditures. These costs are partly related to the observation that depression is often not limited to a single episode but can recur or follow a chronic pathway. In terms of risk factors, it is acknowledged that cognitive impairments play a crucial role in vulnerability to depression. Within this context, cognitive control training (CCT) has shown its effectiveness in reducing the risk for recurrence of depression. CCT is low cost intensive and can be provided as a web-based intervention, which makes it easy to disseminate. Despite increasing interest in the field, studies examining the cost-effectiveness of CCT in the context of depression are largely missing. Health economic evaluation (HEE) allows to inform decision makers with evidence-based insights about how to spend limited available (financial) resources in the most efficient way. HEE studies constitute a crucial step in the implementation of a new intervention in clinical practice. Approaching preventive measures for depression such as CCT from an HEE perspective is informative to health policy, fostering optimal use of health expenditures. The aim of this paper was to inform and guide researchers during the phase of designing HEE studies in the context of CCT for depression. A clear view of CCT’s cost-effectiveness is paramount for its clinical implementation.

Increasing attention is being paid to lifestyle factors, such as nutrition and physical activity (PA), as potential complementary treatment options in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous research indicates that sugar and saturated fat intake may be linked to increased impulsivity, a core symptom of ADHD, whereas protein intake and PA may be related to reduced impulsivity. However, most studies rely on cross-sectional data that lack microtemporal resolution and ecological validity, wherefore questions of microtemporal dynamics (eg, is the consumption of foods high in sugar associated with increased impulsivity within minutes or hours?) remain largely unanswered. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has the potential to bridge this gap.