Reviewbronze2019

Clinical or gimmickal: The use and effectiveness of mobile mental health apps for treating anxiety and depression

Jamie M Marshall · Debra A. Dunstan · Warren John Bartik

83 citations0/0 files storedAustralian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Digital Mental Health Interventions Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Mobile Health and mHealth Applications

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The increase in ownership of smartphones and tablet devices has seen a worldwide government push, championed by the World Health Organization, towards digital healthcare services generally. Mental health has been a strong presence in the digitisation of healthcare because of the potential to solve some of the difficulties in accessing face-to-face services. This review summarises the recent history of e-mental health services and illuminates two very different paths. The first is the considerable amount of research that has proven the effectiveness of many online mental health programmes for personal computers and laptops, resulting in widespread acceptance of their ability to make a contribution in an individual's recovery from anxiety and depression. The second is associated with the more recent development of apps for smartphones and tablet devices and the contrasting paucity of research that has accompanied this burgeoning area of e-mental health. This review also outlines the current state of play for research into the effectiveness of mobile mental health apps for anxiety and depression, including issues associated with methodology, and offers sources of practical advice for clinicians wanting more information about these new digital tools. CONCLUSION: Research into the effectiveness of mental health apps is lacking, and the majority have no evidence of efficacy. Clinicians need to be aware of what apps have such evidence and should exercise caution when recommending apps to patients. Suggestions are offered on the direction of future research, including an appeal to further include clinicians in the development and efficacy testing of mental health apps.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 83 citations exist upstream.

References

2010The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review.2005The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses 2016Estimating the true global burden of mental illness 2013Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies 2012Computer-based psychological treatments for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis 2010Computer Therapy for the Anxiety and Depressive Disorders Is Effective, Acceptable and Practical Health Care: A Meta-Analysis 2013Smartphones for Smarter Delivery of Mental Health Programs: A Systematic Review 2017The efficacy of smartphone‐based mental health interventions for depressive symptoms: a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

Cited by

2020Apps With Maps—Anxiety and Depression Mobile Apps With Evidence-Based Frameworks: Systematic Search of Major App Stores 2021Selling Glossy, Easy Futures: A Feminist Exploration of Commercial Mental-Health-focused Self-Care Apps’ Descriptions in the Google Play Store 2022User Perspectives and Ethical Experiences of Apps for Depression: A Qualitative Analysis of User Reviews 2022Adolescents accept digital mental health support in schools: A co-design and feasibility study of a school-based app for UK adolescents

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.