The effectiveness of psychological interventions for depression and anxiety
Constantin Yves Plessen evaluated the effectiveness of psychological interventions for common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. He focused on traditional psychotherapies and emerging digital interventions, such as internet-based therapies and smartphone applications.
Plessen was motivated by the observation of conflicting results in the existing literature, which often recommend different approaches for the same conditions. His aim was to determine whether these discrepancies were due to arbitrary decisions the researchers made or if they reflected genuine differences in effectiveness.
Plessen: “When mental health professionals decide how to treat mental health issues like depression, they look at summaries of many studies rather than just one. These summaries, called meta-analyses, help them get the most accurate information about what treatments work best. In my study, I found that the way these summaries are put together can really change their conclusions.”
“Our research shows that while traditional psychotherapy and digital interventions are effective for mental health disorders, the current practice of publishing many small studies has reached an impasse. Continuing these small clinical trials will yield similar results as presented in my thesis—they show average effectiveness but don’t reveal who benefits most—and this will not deepen our knowledge meaningfully. To truly benefit patients, scientists must collaborate on larger studies with more diverse participants and adopt open science practices.”
More information on the thesis