Screens & digital health
Digital self-help cut anxiety and depression in chronic illness, coach or no coach
A PLoS Medicine trial randomized 825 adults with chronic conditions across 13 countries to a digital program with human support, the same program self-directed, or a waitlist. Both versions beat usual care, and they matched each other.
Aug 26, 2026
PlaySmart video game nudged teen depression scores down a point over a year
Dartmouth researchers gave 532 teenagers either PlaySmart, a game about spotting depression and asking for help, or commercial games. A year on, the PlaySmart group scored a point lower for depression. Anxiety did not move.
Aug 19, 2026
Acceptance skills added nothing to mindfulness training in a trial of 392 people
392 people were randomized to 14 days of online mindfulness training with acceptance skills, monitoring skills only, or a waiting list. Both training groups beat the waiting list. Neither beat the other.
Aug 18, 2026
Psilocybin beat placebo in the first NHS-funded trial
King's College London randomized 60 people with treatment-resistant depression to a single 25mg dose or a true placebo, both with psychological support. Depression scores fell further on psilocybin. The trial was built to test feasibility.
Aug 9, 2026
Self-guided therapy beat clinician sessions for chronic pain
A JAMA trial randomized 764 veterans with chronic musculoskeletal pain to a self-directed program with recorded coach feedback or to therapy with a clinician. The self-directed group did better at four months and at twelve.
Aug 8, 2026
Likes drove more posting in people with depression
Analysing 17 million posts from 7,736 Twitter users, researchers in JAMA Psychiatry found people with depression were more strongly reinforced by likes, the opposite of what laboratory reward tests usually show.
Aug 3, 2026
Australia banned under-16s from social media. Most kept using it.
Three months after the world's first national minimum age law took effect, a BMJ study found more than 85% of under-16s were still on the restricted platforms.
Aug 1, 2026
The IBS hypnotherapy app lost to a human, but not to nothing
A Gut trial randomized 230 people with IBS to a therapist, an app or psychoeducation. The app failed its non-inferiority test against the therapist and still beat the control.
Jul 29, 2026