Online Prevention
Depression is a major public health problem. It is estimated that it will be the second biggest cause of disease burden in the world within 20 years.
What can we do?
In many areas of medicine we accept that prevention is essential to our health and well being. Imagine how different the world would be today without widespread immunisation programs. We have been much slower to see that prevention programs may also be an important way of protecting our mental health.
Prevention programs show promise
Now there is evidence that special training programs might actually prevent depression [1],[2]. These programs use cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to increase the resilience of young people. (As you can see elsewhere in BluePages, CBT is an effective treatment when delivered face to face or in the form of a self help book).
But how do we deliver them?
We need a practical way of delivering these prevention programs. One method is to introduce the programs into schools. Still, it might be difficult to reach everyone this way, especially those of us who are a bit longer in the tooth.
Online delivery: a possible solution
So at CMHR we began to think about devising a program that could be delivered on the internet. Much work and some years later, we launched MoodGYM.
What is MoodGYM?
MoodGYM is an internet-based therapy program designed to prevent depression in young people. It consists of five modules, a workbook and some interactive extras, including an interactive game. It includes assessments of anxiety and depression, 'warpy' thinking, life-event stress, parental relationships, and pleasant event scheduling. Although it is intended for young people, people who are older may find it helpful.
We recently evaluated MoodGYM in a randomised controlled trial. The results showed that MoodGYM was effective in reducing symptoms of depression in a community sample [3].
MoodGYM is located at http://moodgym.anu.edu.au.
Perhaps we will 'see' you there.
References
- [1] Jaycox L, Reivich K, Gillham J & Seligman MEP. Prevention of depression symptoms in school children. Behaviour Research & Therapy 1994; 32: 801-816.
- [2] Seligman MEP, Schulman P, De Rubeis RJ. The prevention of depression and anxiety. Prevention Treatment, 2, Article8, December 21, 1999.http://journals.apa.org/prevention/. [Accessed 18th August, 2001].
- [3] Christensen H, Griffiths KM, Jorm AF. Delivering depression interventions using the Internet: positive results from a large randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal 2004, 328:265, doi:10.1136/bmj.37945.566632.EE.