A new web-based tool can help people with high-stress and high-pressure jobs reduce suicidal thoughts, researchers have found. The tool, which was originally developed for young doctors, can also be used by others to cope with the stressful demands of work and life.
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Medical University of South Carolina developed the free web-based cognitive behavioral therapy or wCBT tool. It aims to help people cope with stress, prevent depression and eventually reduce suicidal thoughts.
After graduating from medical school, young doctors are faced with a challenging clinical life in their practice as interns. They don't just work over time, instead, they attend round-the-clock duty hours, have sleepless nights, attend to all sorts of cases in patients, meet demands from both patients and superiors and be in constant fear of inflicting harm to patients.
All these stressors lead to anxiety, depression, and self-doubt that may drive them to have suicidal thoughts 'nearly four times the normal rate'. Sometimes, they are reluctant to seek medical advice or counselling sessions because of the fear of either losing their work or having other people know what they're going through.
With this new web-based tool called MoodGYM, they can avail of a digital form of 'talk therapy' often given by mental health professionals, not to mention that interns can seek and have the help right at their fingertips.
In the study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the researchers studied depression and suicide rates among young doctors for years. They noticed that among interns, doctors and residents could benefit from this new tool to curb the rate of suicide.
"This is a relatively risk-free intervention to help interns recognize and treat depression. This is the first study to show that wCBT can reduce suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, in training doctors," said Dr. Srijan Sen, a UM Medical School faculty member.
The application was tested on 199 interns wherein half were asked to use the tool and the other half underwent health education about depression and suicide. They were also given contact numbers of mental health professionals if they need help.
Apparently, interns were less likely to seek mental health consultation mainly because they lack the time to go to the clinic, they do not have easy access to these services and they are concerned about their confidentiality.
The findings show that 21.2 percent of those who did not have access to the application had suicidal thoughts within their internship year compared to 12 percent who used the application.
"This study demonstrates that a free, easily accessible, brief wCBT program is associated with reduced likelihood of suicidal ideation among medical interns. Prevention programs with these characteristics could be easily disseminated to medical training programs across the country," the researchers concluded.
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