News & Announcements

An estimated 5 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 in the U.S. – roughly 20 percent of all tweens and teens – have experienced at least one major depressive episode, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Teen girls, LGBTQ and biracial youth are most at risk for depression, according to survey data from the organization.

In July, CMS proposed three new reimbursement codes for mental health digital therapeutics, which provide evidence-based treatments to patients through mobile devices or the web. The apps typically collect data related to mood, sleep, or other behaviors that inform the cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) a user will receive.

Evidence continues to mount, showing that the United States is in the midst of a historic mental health crisis. But with 25.6 million people lacking health insurance and a persistent drought of practicing mental health professionals, many are seeking treatment options that can bypass the insurance and bureaucratic logjam.

A mental health smartphone app developed by a team of Northwestern Medicine investigators helped improve depressive symptoms in patients with diabetes and hypertension, according to a recent clinical trial published in JAMA.

Smartphone conversational agents like Apple’s Siri respond to questions about health crises inconsistently and incompletely, according to a recent study.

Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed a suite of interactive smartphone mini-apps designed to deliver treatment for depression and anxiety directly to a user.

Northwestern Medicine scientists developed the first blood test to diagnose major depression in adults and to predict who will benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy.

With the support of a five-year, $9 million NIH grant, Konrad Kording, PhD, is leading a team of scientists in exploring a new way to map the brain.

A new algorithm developed by an interdisciplinary team at Northwestern can be used with a physical activity app to predict the location of a phone no matter where an individual carries it.

Scientists at a new Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine center are inventing web-based, mobile, and virtual technologies to treat mood disorders.