Tecsam speach AmindTerapia

Today we will talk about Computer-assisted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CCBT), how it has a huge potential to solve some of the most common mental health problems today, and why we think it will be a standard in health care in the future. 

When we started working with online CBT, 10 years ago mental health problems were already one of the main health problems in the developed world.

The pandemic increased the demand for mental health treatments and the most recent numbers from Instituto nacional de Estadistica in Spain

5% of the Spanish adult population is suffering from depression, that is 2.1 million people (and one of the highest numbers within the EU)

And if we look at the female population it’s even higher 7% 

We also have 5% of the population diagnosed with anxiety.

The use of anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants in Spain is among the highest of all OECD countries so we can see that there is a need for efficient treatment for these problems. 

Research shows that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the most effective form of treatment for those coping with depression and anxiety. 

However traditional CBT therapy has a high cost for private and public health care providers

Lack of trained CBT professionals 

What we propose as a solution to this situation is clinically tested Computer-assisted cognitive behavioural therapy (CCBT) that improves access to an effective, flexible and confidential  treatment for mental health problems like depression, anxiety and adhd at a lower cost and with equivalent results.

Before getting into detail on the solution I’d like to introduce the team 

Most importantly we have our psychologist Jorge Orrego Bravo.

He has been doing doctoral research ​​on the application of computerized cognitive behavioral therapy.

Autor of several self help books based on CBT 

Psychotherapist and coach in his private practice in Barcelona.

My name is Johanna Viklund

My background is in Economics and Business Administration and I got involved in this project 10 years ago when I got in contact with a Swedish team of Psychologists developing online CBT programs that we adapted to a Spanish market.

We have developed and validated online CBT programs based on Swedish version created by the company Livanda early 2000

Adapted to Spanish market 2011

This is what the old program consists of modules of information 

Texts and audio

With each module there are also a serie of exercises that the user needs to do and update in the program

The user also has the possibility to get additional support 

FAQ or to send a question that will be answered by a professional

There are also a wellbeing questionnaire that the users fill in and a visual graphs to show progress over time

In the module for professionals the therapist can 

Follow the users progress

See the exercises

He or she will also see and answer messages that the users have posted. 

The program for Panic disorder was validated in a study performed by Pablo Oromendia and Jorge Orrego at UAB resulting in two doctoral thesis and a paper Published in “Cognitive behaviour therapy”

These programs are over 10 years old, in order to reach full potential we are now looking to update the programs to improve user experience and re-launch them. Some of the features we want to add to increase adherence to treatment are 

Multi platform: Mobile and web platforms 

Capsules of video content

To enhance intelligent user feedback with AI technology to help the user navigate to the best next step in the program. 

Some other features we think would improve the experience are Gamification and push notifications.

Our high level roadmap for the project

Identifying resources to expand the project team

Next step would be to build the new application for web and mobile and update the content accordingly

After that we want to validate the program with a new study in collaboration with a university or research team

And finally re-launch the programs

For this plan we will need resources

Web and mobile developers

UX design experts

And last but not least support from a business mentor with experience of sales in the health care sector. 

We have identified the potential markets based on our previous endeavour and the existing client base in other countries. 

Individuals 

Health care professionals 

Primary care providers

Private health care and wellness providers (insurance companies)

Organisations and companies to offer for their members or employees

However being a very broad target group that requires different market strategies we would need to narrow this down in an initial stage. 

The revenue model in this project is the sale of licenses. 

Depending on the market strategy it can be Individual licences, from online sale or licence packages for organizations and professionals.

Our vision is to offer psychological help through the use of technology and evidence-based best practices. 

We want to make the results of psychological research understandable and accessible for a broader audience

We are looking for collaborators to continue the research and investigation, and the technical development to modernise and improve the UX, and business mentors to improve market strategies.