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Internet Interventions for Mental Health and Addictions: Current Findings and Future Directions

  • Psychiatry in the Digital Age (JS Luo, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Over the last several years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of publications reporting on Internet interventions for mental health and addictions. This paper provides a summary of the recent research on Internet interventions for the most common mental health and addictions concerns—depression, anxiety, alcohol and smoking. There is considerable evidence for the effectiveness of Internet-based interventions targeting depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol use and smoking. Small to moderate effect sizes have been reported for interventions targeting depression, anxiety and alcohol use, and smoking interventions have shown large effects. The addition of human support to depression and anxiety interventions has generally resulted in larger treatments effects, but this trend has not been observed in trials of interventions targeting alcohol use. There is some evidence that online interventions can be as effective as face-to-face therapies, at least for anxiety disorders. Despite a proliferation of research activity in this area, gaps in knowledge remain. Future research should focus on the development and evaluation of interventions for different platforms (e.g. smartphone applications), examining the long-term impacts of these interventions, determining active intervention components and identifying methods for enhancing tailoring and engagement. Careful consideration should be given to the ongoing technical and clinical expertise required to ensure that Internet interventions are delivered safely and professionally in a rapidly changing technology environment.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

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Conflict of Interest

John A Cunningham, Amelia Gulliver, Lou Farrer, Kylie Bennett and Bradley Carron-Arthur declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Mental Health Research, Australian National University, Building 63, Acton, 0200, Canberra, Australia

    John A. Cunningham, Amelia Gulliver, Lou Farrer, Kylie Bennett & Bradley Carron-Arthur

  2. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada

    John A. Cunningham

Authors
  1. John A. Cunningham
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  2. Amelia Gulliver
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  3. Lou Farrer
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  4. Kylie Bennett
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  5. Bradley Carron-Arthur
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Correspondence to John A. Cunningham.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Psychiatry in the Digital Age

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Cunningham, J.A., Gulliver, A., Farrer, L. et al. Internet Interventions for Mental Health and Addictions: Current Findings and Future Directions. Curr Psychiatry Rep 16, 521 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0521-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0521-5

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