ArticleNPJ digital medicine2025
Transdiagnostic-focused apps for depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis.
Article in NPJ digital medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Assessing the Effectiveness, Adherence and Attrition of Smartphone-Based Mental Health Interventions in University Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Early intervention in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of a smartphone app to improve mental health among emergency service workers: A randomised controlled trial.PloS one · 2026Trial
- Therapists' and Researchers' Perspectives on a Transdiagnostic Ecological Momentary Intervention "EmoGuia" for Emotional Disorders: A Consensual Qualitative Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Internet-delivered unguided psychodynamic vs. cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety and depression symptoms: A large, full factorial randomized controlled trial on treatment length and peer support.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Real-world data on uptake and use of digital mental health interventions among waitlisted patients with various mental disorders.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Reducing the 'Silence Between Sessions': A Qualitative Study on Youth and Professionals' Perspectives on Digital Tools for Suicide Prevention.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Framing Helper Therapy to Support User Engagement: Causal Evidence from a Public Deployment of a Mental Health Support Text Messaging Program.Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. CHI Conference · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mental health apps that adopt a transdiagnostic approach to addressing depression and anxiety are emerging, yet a synthesis of their evidence-base is missing. This meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy of transdiagnostic-focused apps for depression and anxiety, and aimed to understand how they compare to diagnostic-specific apps. Nineteen randomized controlled trials (N = 5165) were included. Transdiagnostic-focused apps produced small post-intervention effects relative to controls on pooled outcomes related depression, anxiety and distress (N = 23 comparisons; g = 0.29; 95% CI = 0.17-0.40). Effects remained significant across various sensitivity analyses. CBT apps and apps that were compared with a waitlist produced larger effects. Significant effects were found at follow-up (g = 0.25; 95% CI = 0.10, 0.41). Effects were comparable to disorder-specific app estimates. Findings highlight the potential of transdiagnostic apps to provide accessible support for managing depression and anxiety. Their broad applicability highlights their public health relevance, especially when combined with in-person transdiagnostic therapies to create new hybrid care models.
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.