Psychiatric patients find electronic help
Researchers claim program has effect of actual therapist
By Jean May Chen
Patients undergoing psychotherapy can be successfully treated
using a computer program, a recent study conducted at UCLA
shows.
Patients utilizing the Therapeutic Learning Program (TLP) along
with a brief visit with a therapist displayed significant decreases
in depression, anxiety,and perceived stress after 10 weekly
sessions. Satisfaction with the therapy reported by the test group
matched those of a control group which saw a psychotherapist
exclusively for 10 weeks.
TLP is an user-friendly, interactive program. Using a mouse,
patients can select answers to questions about their problems,
which are designed to help identify the main source of stress or
conflict in their life. If the right answer is not on the screen,
the patient has the option to type one in, which will then be
rephrased as a question by the program.
Once the problem has been identified, TLP will help the patient
work out a plan to resolve the situation.
"Most people already have an idea of what they want to do about
their life problems," said Marion Jacobs, a program researcher and
UCLA psychology professor. "They just don’t carry their plans out
because for some reason or another they feel that there are
insurmountable obstacles blocking their way."
Because the program was designed as an adjunct to professional
help, the patient will receive a printout summarizing the session’s
progress at the end of each session. This summary will be utilized
in a future meeting with an actual therapist.
The UCLA study involved 90 patients with mild to moderately
severe psychological problems, such as conflicts in the area of
relationships or employment.
Researchers Jacobs, Andrew Christenson, John Snibbe and Sharon
Dolezal randomly divided the subjects into two groups. In the
control group, each patient met with a psychotherapist for 50
minutes every week for 10 weeks. In the experimental group, each
patient used TLP for 10 sessions, and supplemented that with 10 to
15 minute weekly visits with a therapist.
Patients were then evaluated at the end of the treatment and
again six months later to see if the effects were lasting. In a
written statement, Jacobs said that subjects in both groups showed
a noticeable decrease in depression, anxiety and perceived stress
at the end of the treatment and that differences between the two
groups were minimal.
"The frequency and severity of symptoms reported by subjects in
both groups significantly declined at the end of the program. At
the six month follow-up, patients in both groups experienced a
slight regression but were still significantly improved from their
pre-treatment conditions," she said.
A second parallel study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente by
Snibbe, Dolezal and Cynthia Belar to see if TLP would work in a
group situation. Persons seeking group psychological services at
Kaiser were directed to computer terminals instead, and then took
their session printouts to group therapy sessions.
"TLP was identical to standard psychotherapy in terms of
effectiveness," eventhough the group study involved patients more
clinically disturbed than those in the individual study, said
Dolezal in a written statement.
The Therapeutic Learning Program was written and developed by
Gould’s private company, Interactive Help Systems, and is only
available to health care professionals. Gould’s company has used
TLP to service 14,000 of its own patients over 10 years, said
Lauren Gould, the company’s chief operating officer.
She added that the company has also written similar programs
used in the mental health and education fields and is now looking
into ways to expand into the computer market, particularly through
the Internet.
TLP will be available for use at the California Self-Help Center
in Franz Hall beginning in July.