Ecological momentary interventions for depression and anxiety

Abstract

Ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) are becoming more popular and more powerful resources for the treatment and prevention of depression and anxiety due to advances in technological capacity and analytic sophistication. Previous work has demonstrated that EMIs can be effective at reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as related outcomes of stress and at increasing positive psychological functioning. In this review, we highlight the differences between EMIs and other forms of treatment due to the nature of EMIs to be deeply integrated into the fabric of people's day-to-day lives. EMIs require unique considerations in their design, deployment, and evaluation. Furthermore, given that EMIs have been advanced by changes in technologies and that the use of behavioral intervention technologies for mental health has been increasing, we discuss how technologies and analytics might usher in a new era of EMIs. Future EMIs might reduce user burden and increase intervention personalization and sophistication by leveraging digital sensors and advances in natural language processing and machine learning. Thus, although current EMIs are effective, the EMIs of the future might be more engaging, responsive, and adaptable to different people and different contexts.

EMMA: An Emotion-Aware Wellbeing Chatbot

“…Ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) are becoming more popular, especially for the treatment of clinical depression and anxiety. They have been effective at reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, reducing outcomes of stress, and increasing positive psychological functioning [24]. Automated text-messaging, used as an adjunct to therapy, has helped users stay in therapy for longer, and attend more sessions [25].…”

Peer Review #2 of "mHealth technology for ecological momentary assessment in physical activity research: a systematic review (v0.1)"

“…More specifically, we agree with defining mEMA as "the use of mobile computing and communication technologies for the ecological momentary assessment of health and lifestyle behaviors". As an example, some researchers have combined mHealth and EMA methodologies to study alcohol, tobacco and drugs consumption (106), depression and anxiety (107), eating disorders and obesity (108), or nutrition and PA behaviors (109). Thus, mEMA methodology can facilitate monitoring of healthy lifestyles under both subjective and objective perspectives, using tools such as written diaries or self-reports on a touch screen, messages on social networks, and motion or physiological sensors, all managed through smartphone apps (7,110).…”

Three Questions to Consider Before Applying Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMI) in Psychiatry

“…Notably, it has been suggested that RCTs may not be the gold standard for the evaluation of increasingly smartphone-based EMI (3) because of their long duration and high financial costs (6,18). However, given that a successful evaluation in RCTs is required before the official release of other medical treatments, these standards should also be applied to EMI.…”

“…The development and application of EMI are continuously increasing (1)(2)(3), related to the emergence of smartphone apps and the widespread availability of the internet (4,5). Today, EMI applications are offered as treatment of various different psychological and psychiatric disorders including anxiety disorders, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorders (2,4,6). EMI are often based on clinically evaluated psychotherapeutic treatments, e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (2), and apply therapeutic activities, assignments, and skills outside the clinical/therapeutic setting, i.e., in individuals' natural environment (7,8).…”