Evaluation Of A Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Introduction Affecting around 350 million people around the world (WHO, 2015) and one in five adults in Australia (Reavley et al. 2011), depression is a mental health disorder that presents a high social and economic impact. The World Health Organisation has predicted that depression will be the disorder with the resulting highest level of disability in the world by 2030, making it one of the health topics in their agenda (WHO, 2015). Here in Australia, this disorder costs the economy approximately 12.6 billion dollars per year and is responsible for over six million working days of lost productivity (Manicavasagar, 2012). Preventing depression to appear is a good step to follow to reduce these statistics. This paper will focus on the†¦show more content†¦It goes beyond feeling sad or moody for a few days because for people that suffer depression these feelings can last weeks, months or even years without an apparent reason. Depression symptoms are varied and not equal between every person. Depression usually appears between the ages of 15 and 30 years old and women are more susceptible to suffer from depression. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a well-recognized treatment especially for minor depression. It links the thoughts of a person with its actions and how they influence the person’s feelings. In this therapy, negative thoughts are identified as well as the actions that follow these thoughts, by doing so, they can be changed and depressive feelings can be prevented. (NIMH, 2015) MoodGYM MoodGym webpage describes itself as â€Å"an innovative, interactive web program designed to prevent depression. It consists of five modules, an interactive game, anxiety and depression assessments, downloadable relaxation audio, a workbook and feedback assessment.† It is a web-based program developed by the National Institute for Mental Health Research launched in 2004 and that currently has over 850,000 registered users around the world. (NIMHR, 2015) The program starts with an assessment module consisting of three quizzes for depression, anxiety and warpy thoughts with close answers. These quizzes will be taken also after the