“Clinicians out there are in need of tools they can use like this to really bridge that gap between what they talk about with young people in sessions and what they would like them to do in everyday life.” In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings, we dive into the pervasive issue of stuck thinking, or rumination,
“Clinicians out there are in need of tools they can use like this to really bridge that gap between what they talk about with young people in sessions and what they would like them to do in everyday life.”
In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings, we dive into the pervasive issue of stuck thinking, or rumination, in children and adolescents – those persistent, often debilitating thought patterns that trap young minds in a cycle of anxiety and depression.
Joined by Dr Imogen Bell, senior research fellow and psychologist at Orygen Digital, who led the development of Mello, we explore the groundbreaking tool designed to help young people disrupt these harmful thought loops – in real time, as they happen.
Mello also builds up practical skills with features like personalised support and bite-sized education modules, each just a few minutes long, to help young people understand and get a handle on their stuck thinking in the long term.
“We all experience stuck thinking but young people in particular, when they describe the things they’re struggling with, it’s often an inability to shut off their thoughts, their very busy minds constantly thinking and worrying about things. They don’t quite yet have the skills to be able to manage that thinking process. It’s something that young people identify with as a key issue they face with their mental health”.
In today’s conversation, Dr Bell explains the science behind Mello, why targeting this specific cognitive pattern can lead to significant improvements in mental health overall and how health professionals can use the program with their young clients.
With insights drawn from an extensive systematic literature review, Mello employs a transdiagnostic approach – it uses a diverse array of therapeutic techniques and education to empower young users, equipping them with practical skills to manage their thoughts in real time.
“Mello is quite unique in that it doesn’t just take a single therapeutic approach; we found that there’s not one technique that works uniformly better than others. So, rather than picking and choosing one approach we created multiple different techniques, from different therapeutic approaches, and we distilled them down into brief exercises that young people can do in the moment”.
This episode offers plenty of valuable perspectives on innovative approaches to treating young minds grappling with the weight of their worries. Tune in to hear more about how Mello can support young clients.
Who is Dr Imogen Bell?
Dr Bell is an NHMRC Early Leadership Fellow at Orygen, the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne. She oversees a program of research on the development, evaluation, and implementation of innovative digital treatments that leverage smartphone apps, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality technology to enhance youth mental health care.
Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of researchers, designers, developers, peer workers, and graduate students, Dr Bell employs human-centered design principles and clinical trial methodologies to develop and evaluate new digital interventions that prioritise and balance excellent user experience with strong evidence base. She also works closely with industry partners, academic collaborators, and key stakeholders to maximize the translational impact of her work.
Check out some of the resources we discussed in this episode:
Mello: https://www.mello.org.au/
What science has shown can help young people with anxiety and depression: https://wellcome.org/reports/what-science-has-shown-can-help-young-people-anxiety-and-depression
A Personalized, Transdiagnostic Smartphone Intervention (Mello) Targeting Repetitive Negative Thinking in Young People with Depression and Anxiety: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial: https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e47860/
A Qualitative Analysis of Young People’s Experiences of Mello: A Personalised, Transdiagnostic Smartphone App Targeting Repetitive Negative Thinking for Depression and Anxiety: https://bit.ly/40hXRFz
Sleep Ninja: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/digital-tools-apps/sleep-ninja/
Listen to the full conversation below. You can also access Digital Mental Health Musings on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Deezer.
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