The latest developments with internet-based psychological treatments for depression

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Internet-based psychological treatments for depression have been around for more than 20 years. There has been a continuous line of research with new research questions being asked and studies conducted.

Areas covered

In this paper, the author reviews studies with a focus on papers published from 2020 and onwards based on a Medline and Scopus search. Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) programs have been developed and tested for adolescents, older adults, immigrant groups and to handle a societal crisis (e.g. COVID-19). ICBT works in regular clinical settings and long-term effects can be obtained. Studies on different treatment orientations and approaches such as acceptance commitment therapy, unified protocol, and tailored treatments have been conducted. Effects on quality-of-life measures, knowledge acquisition and ecological momentary assessment as a research tool have been reported. Factorial design trials and individual patient data meta-analysis are increasingly used in association with internet intervention research. Finally, prediction studies and recent advances in artificial intelligence are mentioned.

Expert opinion

Internet-delivered treatments are effective, in particular if therapist guidance is provided. More target groups have been covered but there are many remaining challenges including how new tools like artificial intelligence will be used when treating depression.

KEYWORDS:

• Internet delivery
• cognitive behavior therapy
• research designs
• depression
• artificial intelligence

Article highlights

• Internet-based psychological treatments can be effective for adolescents and older adults as well as for immigrant groups.

• In particular therapist-supported ICBT appears to work in regular clinical settings.

• The long-term effects of guided ICBT have been documented.

• Different forms of CBT and other treatment orientations like psychodynamic internet treatment have been tested and found to be effective.

• In research symptom measures are now complemented by other outcomes such as knowledge acquisition.

• Different research methodologies are now used more frequently such as factorial design trials, individual patient data meta-analyses and qualitative methods.

• Future studies will probably focus on broadening the scope of internet treatments and discover the pros and cons of recent developments in artificial intelligence and conversational agents.

Declaration of interest

The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was funded in part by Linköping University.