New e-mental health tool for anxiety and depression

A new free online tool based around the concept of self monitoring has been launched to assist people with mild-to-moderate anxiety and depression.

myCompass is an “interactive self-help service” that assesses user symptoms, then provides a personalised and interactive program designed to help a person work through their mental health issues. The initiative has been developed by a team of health professionals at the Black Dog Institute, and funded by the Australian Government.

One feature is the use of SMS and email to deliver motivational tips, useful information and reminders to self monitor. myCompass also directs users to educational modules, provides graphical feedback to users about their monitoring and presents it alongside “meaningful contextual information”.
The Institute’s Associate Professor, Judy Proudfoot, said in a statement: “Research clearly shows that early psychological intervention can reverse mild to moderate symptoms of depression and anxiety, yet we know that more than 50% of Australians who report issues with mental health don’t access traditional health services.”

Noting the tool’s place in the federal government’s recently launched e-mental health strategy, Minister for Mental Health, Mark Butler said: “anything we can do to help people take the first step in asking for help is a good thing.”
According to the Institute, myCompass is intended to help address the growing public health burden of mental illness which affects more than three million Australians per year. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, undiagnosed depression costs the economy alone $3.2 billion dollars a year in lost productivity.

The Institute said a recent pilot study of myCompass “showed that people using myCompass reported significantly lower levels of stress, anxiety, depression, overall psychological distress and improvements in their day-to-day functioning after using the program.”

Further funding is currently being sought to develop myCompass into an app making it easier to use on smartphones and tablet devices.

(Source: eHealth Space)