Three Valencian universities create an application for the prevention and treatment of emotional disorders



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## Three Valencian universities create an application for the prevention and treatment of emotional disorders

28/06/2017 |
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Researchers at the Universitat Jaume I, the Universitat Politècnica de València and the University of Valencia have developed a self-administered Internet programme for the prevention and treatment of emotional disorders. "Sonreír es divertido" [“Smiling is fun”] combines the most effective existing procedures for controlling anxiety and stress with techniques to promote emotional regulation, coping skills and resilience.

The tool incorporates new strategies to improve positive mood with the objective of reducing the incidence of emotional disorders through prevention and early treatment, attending those people who are at high risk of developing this type of disorders. The programme trains the user in adaptive ways to face problems and overcome them without prior preparation.

One of the novelties of this tool is that it incorporates positive psychology techniques. Adriana Mira Pastor, researcher of the project, comments that “traditionally, psychological interventions have focused more on alleviating the deficit and reducing negative emotions and not so much on increasing people’s strengths and virtues; that is why we have also included these techniques."

The proportion of the population affected by emotional disorders indicates that it is necessary to insist on programmes combining treatment efficiency and a reduction of health costs. Self-administered interventions on the Internet have become very helpful tools for both patients and practitioners. The main advantages of the tool are that it improves access to mental health in areas with few or remote resources; increases patient confidentiality and, in addition to being accessible from multiple devices, at any time and place, incorporates multimedia elements that help to understand and strengthen information.

“People can graphically see how their emotions change over the course of treatment. With these self-administered programmes on the Internet, we will be able to treat people who would not receive help otherwise, since they live in rural areas without specialized health centres or even because of the stigma that sometimes generates the fact of going to a psychologist,” explains the researcher.

A randomized controlled trial has found the effectiveness of the “Sonreír es divertido” treatment protocol to improve the clinical situation of patients. Results show that interference from stressful events is significantly reduced in those who completed the programme, including one year later, compared to the control group. The tool is the first programme in Spanish with validation studies in the Spanish population.

The treatment protocol consists of eight modules aimed at teaching different psychological techniques and adaptive ways to cope with stress. In addition to the components of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), it includes practical exercises and strategies to improve positive affect. The patient is monitored with three transversal tools: “How am I?”, which shows the evolution after the completion of each module; a calendar indicating the frequency of access and the tasks that have been done, and a activity diary that shows the relationship between the mood and the activities performed.

The new tool, fully developed and prepared for use in computers and tablets, is applicable in companies that want to work to prevent emotional disorders in their staff; hospitals and centres dedicated to the care of patients with mental problems; clinical trials and research in clinical psychology and the general population. The programme has been developed within the framework of the European project “Online Predictive Tools for Intervention in Mental Illness” (Optimi) in which these three universities of the Valencian Community participate.

**Publications**

“An internet-based program for depressive symptoms using human and automated support: a randomized controlled trial”. Adriana Mira; Juan Bretón-López; Azucena García-Palacios; Soledad Quero; Rosa María Baños; Cristina Botella. *Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment* 2017:13 987–1006.

**Image:** Guadalupe Molinari; Beatriz Alonso; Daniel Campos; Adriana Mira; Carla Soler and Iryna Rachyla from the Laboratory of Psychology and Technology at the UJI.

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