scientific evidence

Assessing the Efficacy of Mindfulness Apps

PROJECT SUMMARY: Rates of depression continue to rise and the mental health impact of COVID-19 has only accelerated trends. While mental health apps, specifically mindfulness apps, are not a panacea, they are popular tools that millions are turning to today for easy access, affordable, and low-stigma help. But increased reliance on mindfulness apps has not been supported by rigorous scientific evidence exemplified by few studies employing appropriate control conditions. Thus, this research is designed to focus on using 100% remote but robust methodology to assess the efficacy of mindfulness apps by applying a novel precision medicine framework. Our study first assesses the impact of the Digital Working Alliance by matching people with depression with a mindfulness app that may better support their personalized needs. We will compare those randomized to the to this matching condition to a digital placebo to better evaluate the efficacy of these mindfulness apps. For the first six weeks, participants will be asked to use the mindfulness app or digital placebo daily, and if not engaged, will receive reminders, allowing for the analysis of clinical outcomes during ideal usage patterns. For an additional six weeks, participants will be asked to use the app or digital placebo naturally, allowing for the elucidation of naturalistic usage patterns and evaluation if these usage patterns impact clinical outcomes. Across the entire study, we will capture smartphone-based digital phenotypes of behaviors (eg sleep, step, screen time), environments (eg home time, greenspace exposure), and symptoms (longitudinal ecological momentary assessment) to create personalized and predictive models of response that can be utilized to better understand factors impacting the efficacy of mindfulness apps, and in the future, better tailor apps to each person.

The role of real-word data in scientific evidence. Experiences from the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People

Mahzarin Banaji and her colleague coined the term “implicit bias” in the mid-1990s to refer to behavior that occurs without conscious awareness. Today, Professor Banaji is Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and has received numerous awards for her scientific contributions. The purpose of the seminar, Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, is to reveal the surprising and even perplexing ways in which we make errors in assessing and evaluating others when we recruit and hire, onboard and promote, lead teams, undertake succession planning, and work on behalf of our clients or the public we serve. It is Professor Banaji’s belief that people intend well and that the inconsistency we see, between values and behavior, comes from a lack of awareness. But because implicit bias is pervasive, we must rely on scientific evidence to “outsmart” our minds. If we do so, we will be more likely to reach the life goals we have chosen for ourselves and to serve better the organizations for which we work.

Associations between brain interoceptive network dysconnectivity and heightened peripheral inflammation in depression

Are the immune system, brain, mind and mood related? Could this explain why chronic low-grade peripheral inflammation is also noted in approximately 1/3 of those with major depressive disorder (MDD)? The field recognized today as immunopsychiatry was founded on scientific evidence that germinated over 30 years ago. Since, it has been understood that (i) there could be a causal link between inflammation and depression, (ii) select blood immune markers show robust potential as biomarkers for inflammation-linked depression, and more generally, (iii) Descartes' theories on mind-body dualism were biologically erroneous. Nonetheless, the mechanistic brain-immune axis in the trinity formulating inflammation-linked depression i.e. psycho-neuro-immunology, still remains unclear. This talk will discuss findings from our recent investigation endeavored to unpack this by linking functional connectivity abnormalities with peripheral immune markers.