Thanks for the post. This sounds worth exploring and quite promising, especially if it works.
It’s quite impressive that it may be about 60-70% as effective compared to guided therapy.
I was just wondering about one element that I think could be more clear. What kind of unguided self-help apps are you talking about? Are they already widespread? Are we talking about Thought Saver or Waking Up or something like that ? I think a little example of such an app and how it works at the beginning could provide a bit more clarity.
Thank you! It’s easy to get lost in the myopia of a good investigation. I’ve added a section to the intro, but in essence, the definition in the literature is very broad and essentially includes any self-learned psychotherapy, regardless of the evidence base for it! Anything that comes up when you type ‘mental health’ in an app store counts, and as such, effectiveness varies wildly.
The ones that tend to get studied are usually more evidence-based and adhere more strictly to the canonical forms of their associated therapies, which might explain why that difference isn’t wider. That’s a long-winded way of saying that yes, Waking Up and Thought Saver would both count (what I have in mind is something pretty close to Thought Saver).
Thanks for the answer !
So if I have some friends and contacts that have mental health issue, I guess it would be relevant to provide them these kind of apps (at least in complement)? Do you have in mind some apps that would be better than others ?
(Thought Saver is there I guess)
I haven’t done an extensive search, but the ones that seem the best to me would be Thought Saver, UpLift, and Clarity CBT Journal. All three of these are from EA-aligned people and seem to be very evidence-based; Clarity is also very popular.
Meditation might be more approachable for people & is less medicalised. Headspace is the most-used and has the most evidence, but if your hypothetical friend wants something a bit less mushy both 10% Happier and Waking Up are really good (and are both doing something a bit different).
Thanks for the post. This sounds worth exploring and quite promising, especially if it works.
It’s quite impressive that it may be about 60-70% as effective compared to guided therapy.
I was just wondering about one element that I think could be more clear. What kind of unguided self-help apps are you talking about? Are they already widespread? Are we talking about Thought Saver or Waking Up or something like that ? I think a little example of such an app and how it works at the beginning could provide a bit more clarity.
Thank you! It’s easy to get lost in the myopia of a good investigation. I’ve added a section to the intro, but in essence, the definition in the literature is very broad and essentially includes any self-learned psychotherapy, regardless of the evidence base for it! Anything that comes up when you type ‘mental health’ in an app store counts, and as such, effectiveness varies wildly.
The ones that tend to get studied are usually more evidence-based and adhere more strictly to the canonical forms of their associated therapies, which might explain why that difference isn’t wider. That’s a long-winded way of saying that yes, Waking Up and Thought Saver would both count (what I have in mind is something pretty close to Thought Saver).
Thanks for the answer ! So if I have some friends and contacts that have mental health issue, I guess it would be relevant to provide them these kind of apps (at least in complement)? Do you have in mind some apps that would be better than others ? (Thought Saver is there I guess)
I haven’t done an extensive search, but the ones that seem the best to me would be Thought Saver, UpLift, and Clarity CBT Journal. All three of these are from EA-aligned people and seem to be very evidence-based; Clarity is also very popular.
Meditation might be more approachable for people & is less medicalised. Headspace is the most-used and has the most evidence, but if your hypothetical friend wants something a bit less mushy both 10% Happier and Waking Up are really good (and are both doing something a bit different).
Thanks for the answer!