Mobile Apps for the Treatment of Depression

Smartphone applications (apps) may be well-suited as a low cost adjunctive tool for
increasing the adherence of individuals to psychotherapy treatments which may subsequently
increase symptom reduction and improve clinical outcomes. Apps offer the opportunity for
real-time tracking of behavior and have the ability to provide prompt feedback and reminders
in a convenient, readily available technology. The immediacy and convenience of apps may be
responsible for the observed improvements in adherence on the part of the patients relative
to traditional paper-and-pencil tracking and practice of skills taught in psychotherapy.
These features are relevant to behavioral activation (BA) protocols, the effects of which
are often attenuated by failure to adhere to regular practice and tracking of behavior. The
Mood Coach app is a BA protocol developed to provide a convenient means of planning and
tracking activity, and monitoring mood responses to scheduled increases in activity. This
project evaluates the utility of this app as an adjunct to standard BA treatment. The
investigators predict that participants assigned to the BA+app condition will demonstrate
greater adherence to the BA treatment compared to the standard BA condition. The
investigators also predict that the participants in the BA+app condition will report greater
satisfaction with the app compared to the standard BA protocol that utilizes paper and
pencil materials.