Online Positive Emotion Skills Intervention for Symptoms of Depression

Major depressive disorder affects over 120 million people worldwide. Only 50% of Americans
with depression receive adequate treatment, and one-third of those receiving treatment do not
benefit. In this pilot project investigators will bring together two approaches that have the
promise to reach large numbers of depression sufferers: a skills-based intervention for
increasing positive affect and experiences in depressed individuals, delivered in an
inexpensive self-paced mobile format. The study will make use of smartphone technology to
improve conventional outcome measurement via in-the-moment emotion sampling and mobile
assessment of heart rate variability, a predictor of cardiac health that may mediate some of
the health effects of depression. The aims are: 1) Retool the existing web-based positive
emotion intervention for use on smartphones, with innovative exercises that help participants
bring the skills they are learning into real- life situations; 2) Measure heart rate
variability and emotions using existing smartphone software; and 3) Perform a randomized
pilot trial of the mobile intervention on individuals with clinical depression recruited
online.