In the face of high unmet mental health needs and overburdened mental health systems, scalable approaches to increase use of evidence-based interventions are essential. Smartphone apps, e-therapies and other digital interventions offer promise in this regard.
Digital interventions can be effective for a range of clinical disorders. These tools, particularly those that can be used without clinical support, can have enormous reach1. However, early optimism that they could be placed online, optimally utilized by those who need them, and thereby improve population mental health, has not been realized. Both the uptake of tools and sustained engagement with them have often been disappointing1, 2.
