mHealth for Mental Health Program
Low and Middle Income Countries
From apps to avatars, new tools for taking control of your mental health
By Amy Ellis Nutt
Posted: 2 July 2018
Rigorous examination of these apps is what motivates psychologist Dror Ben-Zeev, director of mobile mental health services at the University of Washington. His intervention, still in the testing stage, is a kind of pocket therapist.
National Council for Behavioral Health TED Talk
Posted: 7 June 2019
In his TED-Style Talk, “The Future of Mental Health Care is Sitting in Your Pocket,” Dror Ben-Zeev, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington, highlights the innovative uses of mobile technology in mental health care.
Even Those with Severe Mental Illness Benefit from Therapy Apps
By Dror Ben-Zeev
Posted: 22 Sept 2015
In researching an array of mobile phone apps for people with severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, my research group has found that some interventions can definitely benefit those who use them.
Poor countries are developing a new paradigm of mental health care. America is taking note.
By Sigal Samuel
Updated 28 November 2022
"This is what the future of mental health could look like."
App created at UW helps treat severe mental illness on-demand
By John Knicely
Posted: 29 May 2018
A 3-year study on the FOCUS app just wrapped up. The results show it had a significantly better rate at getting patients to engage in treatment than a scheduled trip to the clinic.
Unconventional methods could help teens struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts
By Hana Kim
Posted: 25 Sept 2018
"He had just turned 14-- this was six weeks before we lost him," Gilligan said of her son Palmer Burk. The Vashon Island mom is on a mission to prevent more teens from dying by suicide.
How Smartphone Apps Can Treat Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia
By Davey Alba
Posted: 20 Nov 2014
Bryan Timlin always carries an iPhone and an Android phone.The 57-year-old is an app and graphic designer with a Michigan company called OptHub, but he doesn’t carry two phones for work. He carries the iPhone because that’s what he likes, and he carries the Android because it’s what he needs.
How Does That Make You Tweet? How Therapists Can and Should use Social Media to Monitor Clients
By Kathleen Smith
Posted: 25 Nov 2014
Paparazzi aren’t the only ones documenting former child star Amanda Bynes’ mental health problems. Bynes’ most recent hospitalization occurred when she tweeted accusations that her father sexually abused her, then blamed the false statement on the “microchip” in her brain.
Could Phone App Help People with Mental Illness in Ghana?
By Brian Donahue
Posted: 13 October 2022
In 2017, when psychologist Dror Ben-Zeev first traveled to Ghana, he was braced for the disheartening sight of people chained to trees and concrete. He had heard that such forced confinement and a regimen of daily prayers was routine for people with serious mental illness who received treatment at prayer camps run by traditional and faith healers.
Professors Call for Mobile Apps to Assess Mental Illness
By ABK
Posted: 30 Nov 2017
“Mobile technologies like smart phones can provide resources that people with mental health conditions can use, out of their environment,” Prof Ben-Zeev said.
Prof Ben-Zeev made these remarks in his presentation at the Third Public Lecture of the Ghana Psychological Association in Accra.
UW study finds mental health apps are effective, cost less than clinic-based help
By King 5 Staff
Posted: 18 Feb 2021
The adoption of Internet-based treatments and digital mental health apps could improve patient access to treatment and help alleviate provider shortages.
Mental health: There's an App for That
By Emily Anthes
Posted: 6 Apr 2016
Smartphone apps can also interact with users proactively, pinging them to ask about their moods, thoughts and overall well-being. Ben-Zeev created one called FOCUS, which is geared towards patients with schizophrenia.
Making Cruel Unusual
Posted: 11 Jul 2015
Advances in medical technology should also help to keep mental patients out of hospital. Dror Ben-Zeev has conducted several promising trials using mobile phones to keep an eye on such people. In its most basic form this means using text messages to ask them how they are feeling and remind them to take their medication.
Need a Therapist? There's an app for that
By Heather Kitching
Posted: 7 Sept 2018
"Health care professionals met at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre on Thursday to look at ways of using smart technologies, such as mobile phones, in health care — particularly for patients in the remote north. The keynote speaker was a Seattle, WA psychiatry professor whose BRiTE Center."
Facebook Live: Does Telehealth Improve Outcomes for Patients with Serious Mental Illness?
Posted: 1 Nov 2018
With the rapid expansion of digital communication tools, there is a growing sense that telehealth can improve access to care and help patients manage their health. PCORI hosted a Facebook Live session for a conversation with a PCORI-funded researcher and stakeholder partner about how telehealth may help improve outcomes for patients living with serious mental illness.
App for serious mental illness starts clinic-training phase
Posted: 29 July 2022
The phone-based technology is "the closest thing to a therapist in patients’ pockets," says its project lead in psychiatry at UW Medicine.
Researchers Dig into the 'How' and 'Why' of Device Use by People with SMI
By Nick Zagorski
Posted: 3 Apr 2017
Smartphone apps claim to help conditions from addiction to schizophrenia, but few have been thoroughly tested.
How Might Technology Change Mental Health Care?
By Nick Zagorski
Posted: 27 Jan 2017
Research by Dror Ben-Zeev, of the University of Washington, in Seattle, demonstrated that Bluetooth radios on smartphones can be used to monitor the locations of people with schizophrenia within a hospital.
How Innovation in Mobile Health is Reshaping Mental Health
By Steven Chan
Posted: 3 Jan 2014
Psychiatric health conditions and behavioral issues received greater prominence at the 2013 mHealth Summit, with presentations and panels given by prominent national researchers. This focus comes at the right time, when today’s mental health system is extremely dysfunctional.
Harnessing the Power of Smartphones to Prevent Psychosis
By Joseph Blumberg
Posted: 19 Nov 2013
There is no known cure for schizophrenia, but Dror Ben-Zeev and his team are working on ways to help those who suffer from it. The disease is chronic, often fluctuating between psychotic episodes and periods of remission.
A Software Shrink: Apps and Wearables Could Usher in an Era of Digital Psychiatry?
By John Torous
Posted: 27 June 2017
Dror Ben-Zeev, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington, believes that mental health professionals need to recognize and take advantage of the current state of mobile phones and other novel technologies to enhance mental health services.
Your Future Mental Health Doc will be a Smart Phone
By Aaron Turpen
Posted: 13 Jan 2014
You've likely seen the ads and features talking about the latest fitness app or the newest calorie-counting dieter's app for the iPhone, Android, or other smart phones. What about mental health? Is there an app for that?
Dartmouth Researchers Receive Awards from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
By Susan Green
Posted: 10 Oct 2014
Dror Ben-Zeev, PhD, an assistant professor and Rachel Thompson, PhD, an assistant professor of health policy and clinical practice at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, received $1.88 million and $2 million respectively.
Smartphone App Keeps Watch Over Schizophrenic Patients
By Eliza Strickland
Posted: 18 Jun 2014
What if a schizophrenic patient could have the equivalent of a therapist in a pocket, watching for symptoms of a relapse? That’s the promise of a smartphone-based system now being tested at a hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y.
An App a Day...
By Erika Cohen
Posted: 18 Dec 2013
You know the old adage about an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Health care providers, though, are betting new apps will keep them better connected to their patients and manage their health more effectively. From helping psychiatric patients manage meds and track moods to offering up-to-date information on medications, there is “an app for that.”
Smart Phones Have Potential to Help Manage Schizophrenia, Other Disorders
By Rick Nauert PhD
Posted: 2012
Researchers believe smartphones can be used for the assessment and treatment of schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses.
Who's making sure your mental health app is safe? No one, experts say
By Sarah Isrealsen-Hartley
Posted: 21, Jan 2019
The state of mental health apps today is a bit like the "Peanuts" cartoons that show Lucy sitting at a small booth: "Psychiatric Help--- 5 cents."
App for People With SMI Shows Promise in Remote Trial
Nick Zagorski
Posted: 31 Jan 2022
While many clinical studies have been conducted virtually, the study of a mobile app that teaches patients how to regulate dysfunctional thoughts went one step further by limiting staff involvement with the study participants to tech support only.
Meet Your Next Therapist: the Smart Home
By David Priest
Posted: 10 Apr 2017
With the right combination of emerging technology, schizophrenia treatment could be on the brink of a major shift.
Technology Therapy rather than the Couch
By Pierre Longeray (translated from French)
Posted: 17 Sept 2020
While COVID-19 and confinement have complicated access to therapists, some are trying to take the technology leap by offering sessions by SMS or even video games.