Apple partners with UCLA for three-year study on depression

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Participants in the UCLA depression study will wear an Apple Watch in conjunction with an iPhone, with and end goal of revolutionizing the detection and treatment of depression.




The study will take place over three years and has been co-designed by researchers UCLA and Apple. The pilot phase will begin this week and involve 150 participants recruited from UCLA Health patients. The main phase will start in 2021 and run through 2023 and include 3,000 participants drawn from UCLA Health patients and the UCLA student body.

The study will utilize Apple technology, such as the iPhone and Apple Watch, as well as a Beddit sleep monitoring device. The study will measure how factors like sleep, physical activity, heart rate, and daily routines factor into depression and anxiety.

"As a neuroscientist by training with expertise in sleep, I am incredibly excited about this collaboration and am hopeful that it will lead to significant strides in mental health research," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.

As with heart health studies that Apple has done in the past, participants will need to download a research app on their iPhone. Apple Watches and Beddit sleep monitors will be provided for the duration of the study.

Participants will also be required to participate in clinical interviews and questionnaires. Researchers designed the study so all aspects can be accomplished remotely to avoid unnecessary exposure and spreading of the coronavirus.

Dr. Nelson Freimer, distinguished professor of psychiatry and director of the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge, is principal investigator on the study.

"This collaboration, which harnesses UCLA's deep research expertise and Apple's innovative technology, has the potential to transform behavioral health research and clinical care," Freimer said. "Current approaches to treating depression rely almost entirely on the subjective recollections of depression sufferers. This is an important step for obtaining objective and precise measurements that guide both diagnosis and treatment."

The study, which is part of UCLA's Depression Grand Challenge, hopes to unearth genetic and environmental factors contributing to depression. It also hopes to understand better the changes that depression causes in the brain and body.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    That's very good news. One of the most difficult issues with depression is getting the patient to recognize it. Even if they think they might be depressed, the illness itself keeps them from seeking treatment. Potentially having a device see some symptoms and tell the wearer, "You might be depressed. Might want to see someone," or something like that could be very helpful. It could be analogous to the people who have heart issues that used to just say "Oh it's nothing, it's just indigestion, it'll get better." Now they have their watch say "You might have A-Fib," and they go see their doctor.
    JWSCBeatscaladanian
  • Reply 2 of 9
    lojacklojack Posts: 28member
    True, anything that can help with people's mental well being is always a plus.

    The Pac-12 snark in me though wants to say that UCLA is depressed because they're not Cal or USC... :wink: 
    DAalseth
  • Reply 3 of 9
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    lojack said:
    The Pac-12 snark in me though wants to say that UCLA is depressed because they're not Cal or USC... :wink: 
    LOL. I was a U of OR Duck so I'm laughing with you.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    More power to Apple. Outcome of this study can long way in identifying and a tool to treat depression.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    The times are changing -- or more specifically, medical thinking on depression has been evolving:
    For too long the healthcare system saw depression as being treated with drugs.   But, it is now widely accepted that therapy is as effective as drugs in treating this condition.  And, that the best therapy is a combination of the two:  that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

    But, what is now emerging is that physical activity can also be effective in treating the condition.   The conundrum though is that it's hard to get a person with clinical depression to get out walking, running, cycling, etc.

    Perhaps a more relevant question might be:   Can physical activity help to prevent clinical depression from forming -- and just how effective is it?  
  • Reply 6 of 9
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    The times are changing -- or more specifically, medical thinking on depression has been evolving:
    For too long the healthcare system saw depression as being treated with drugs.   But, it is now widely accepted that therapy is as effective as drugs in treating this condition.  And, that the best therapy is a combination of the two:  that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

    But, what is now emerging is that physical activity can also be effective in treating the condition.   The conundrum though is that it's hard to get a person with clinical depression to get out walking, running, cycling, etc.

    Perhaps a more relevant question might be:   Can physical activity help to prevent clinical depression from forming -- and just how effective is it?  
    What’s also emerging is that antidepressants are not better than placebo, are more likely to cause worse outcomes in long-term usage, and that the hypothesis of the “chemical imbalance cause of depression” is unproven by actual real science and is a myth.

    Hopefully this study will add weight to the argument that sleep hygiene is critical and make people take sleep more seriously. We have an invisible epidemic of sleep disorders. Most people believe REM sleep is the “most restful” stage of sleep (which was presented by commercials for sleep aids). It’s not! Sleep stage 3 (formerly 4), also known as delta//slow wave sleep, is most restful. This is deep sleep, when your brain is the least active and therefore is able to *actually* rest. Delta wave sleep is *blocked* by almost every sleep aid, antidepressants, and other pharmacology constantly being pushed at people.

    i probably won’t live long enough to see it, but I suspect there is a massive reckoning coming where the manufacturers and pushers of antidepressants and benzodiazepines are going to be slammed with a monstrous class-action lawsuit for knowingly promoting myths, lies, and pushing addictive substances that don’t actually treat anything.

    Have a look at the collected info that this organization has available: http://cepuk.org/ I’m NOT associated with them. I’m just another victim of the American pharmaceutical and so-called “mental healthcare” system. (No, no Scientology BS either)
    FileMakerFeller
  • Reply 7 of 9
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    And there you go. Another humorous comment of mine deleted. Good lord.
    edited August 2020
  • Reply 8 of 9
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    dysamoria said:
    The times are changing -- or more specifically, medical thinking on depression has been evolving:
    For too long the healthcare system saw depression as being treated with drugs.   But, it is now widely accepted that therapy is as effective as drugs in treating this condition.  And, that the best therapy is a combination of the two:  that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

    But, what is now emerging is that physical activity can also be effective in treating the condition.   The conundrum though is that it's hard to get a person with clinical depression to get out walking, running, cycling, etc.

    Perhaps a more relevant question might be:   Can physical activity help to prevent clinical depression from forming -- and just how effective is it?  
    What’s also emerging is that antidepressants are not better than placebo, are more likely to cause worse outcomes in long-term usage, and that the hypothesis of the “chemical imbalance cause of depression” is unproven by actual real science and is a myth.

    Hopefully this study will add weight to the argument that sleep hygiene is critical and make people take sleep more seriously. We have an invisible epidemic of sleep disorders. Most people believe REM sleep is the “most restful” stage of sleep (which was presented by commercials for sleep aids). It’s not! Sleep stage 3 (formerly 4), also known as delta//slow wave sleep, is most restful. This is deep sleep, when your brain is the least active and therefore is able to *actually* rest. Delta wave sleep is *blocked* by almost every sleep aid, antidepressants, and other pharmacology constantly being pushed at people.

    i probably won’t live long enough to see it, but I suspect there is a massive reckoning coming where the manufacturers and pushers of antidepressants and benzodiazepines are going to be slammed with a monstrous class-action lawsuit for knowingly promoting myths, lies, and pushing addictive substances that don’t actually treat anything.

    Have a look at the collected info that this organization has available: http://cepuk.org/ I’m NOT associated with them. I’m just another victim of the American pharmaceutical and so-called “mental healthcare” system. (No, no Scientology BS either)

    !)   You can pretty much find a study to prove whatever it is you want to be proven -- so medical people tend to follow the preponderance of evidence based on the most credible studies as well as those supported by other studies and having passed peer review.   That said:   who funded the study is the best determinate of the outcome of the study -- even double blind RCTs can be biased (either in design or in analysis).   Or, another method the drug industry has used is to only publish those studies that are favorable to their product and bury the rest.

    As for antidepressants specifically:  definitely their shine has been tarnished.  But they are still recognized as effective and commonly used as front line treatment for clinical depression and some other (mostly anxiety related) conditions.  (But, as I pointed out above:  there are other treatments equally as effective or more so if used in tandem.)

    As for Benzo's:   Their shine has faded as well as the healthcare industry became more aware of their bad side -- just as it did with opioids.   But then, EVERY prescription drug has a bad side.

    2)  There is much to be learned about the physiology of sleep.   Right now, sleep science seems, to use an analogy, to be equivalent to 1492 when they knew that if you sailed to the east you ran into some strange land rather than falling off the end of the flat earth.   In other words, the knowledge is mostly just observational without much real understanding.
    FileMakerFeller
  • Reply 9 of 9
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    dysamoria said:
    The times are changing -- or more specifically, medical thinking on depression has been evolving:
    For too long the healthcare system saw depression as being treated with drugs.   But, it is now widely accepted that therapy is as effective as drugs in treating this condition.  And, that the best therapy is a combination of the two:  that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

    But, what is now emerging is that physical activity can also be effective in treating the condition.   The conundrum though is that it's hard to get a person with clinical depression to get out walking, running, cycling, etc.

    Perhaps a more relevant question might be:   Can physical activity help to prevent clinical depression from forming -- and just how effective is it?  
    We have an invisible epidemic of sleep disorders. 
    Very true. I know I've not been sleeping well for a several months. Stress, Covid, work, etc., etc. Didn't need an Apple Watch to tell me that.
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