The online treatment program Deprexis simulates evidence-based psychotherapy and can be used by psychiatrists for patients on waiting lists, as an adjunct to traditional treatment, or as a stand-alone intervention. The program includes modules such as behavioural activation, cognitive restructuring, mindfulness/acceptance exercises, social skills training, and positive psychology interventions.

In this randomised trial, 60 adults with mild to moderate depression were assigned to 9 weeks of either online-treatment (N = 34) or treatment-as-usual (N = 26).

Taking the program was associated with significant reductions in depression severity and improvements in social functioning, which were maintained over nine weeks of follow-up. In the treatment group, 41% experienced clinically significant improvement, whereas this was true in only 3.8% of the control participants. This corresponds to an odds-ratio of 17.50, indicating that participants in the treatment group were more than 17 times as likely to experience clinically significant improvement, compared to those in the control group. The effect size achieved by Deprexis resembles those achieved in routine community treatments, including medication or psychotherapy (Grawe, 2006; Westbrook & Kirk, 2005). The Deprexis program was also well received by the users: 88% felt that the program had helped them and 97% would recommend it to others suffering from mild depression.

These encouraging preliminary data suggests that Deprexis is an effective, online, self-help intervention for adults suffering from mild to moderate depression.