Smartphones Aggravating Anxiety Symptoms

Mayo Clinic

Status: Invitation-only

Conditions: Anxiety

Treatments: Behavioral: Avoiding Social Media Apps; Behavioral: General decrease in smartphone use

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06361342

23-003633

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to assess if excessive use of smartphone apps of social media can impact a person's mental health. The study is aimed at improving the usage of smartphones which might help improve the mental health of patients. The goal is not to discourage the use of smartphones but instead to utilize smartphones in a way that they do not impact lives.

Enrollment: 100 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• For patients aged 18 years or older experiencing mild symptoms of anxiety or depression and who have a GAD-7 score 5 and above.
• Patient should have smart phone and should be using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, and Pinterest social media apps.
• Patients should have email access.

Exclusion criteria

• Any patient who uses a smartphone for tracking glucose for diabetes management, heart rate, or any chronic illness which is being managed through a smartphone app.
• Any patient who uses more than one personal smartphone
• Any patient who is a suicide risk as per PHQ-9 score, current recreational drug usage, or alcohol abuse.
• Any patient who has suicidal ideation as per PHQ-9 assessment before or during the study period will be excluded, (all patients will be monitored for suicidal ideation by PHQ-9 scoring method at day 1, week 6, and week 12, but it is the responsibility of the patient to inform the study team if they have developed any suicidal ideation throughout the study period).
• Patients with activated POA (Power of Attorney - Healthcare), diagnosis of mental retardation or current disability due to any psychiatric disorder or severe depression with a high risk of suicide should be excluded.
• Any patient currently undergoing ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) for severe depression.
• Any patient taking prescribed SSRIs/SNRIs, with a change and not taking them continuously in last 30 days (not a new diagnosis of anxiety). If change they will be excluded.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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100 participants in 2 patient groups

General decrease in smartphone use.

Experimental group

Description:

Subjects will limit their time on smartphone.

Treatment:

Behavioral: General decrease in smartphone use

Avoid certain social media apps

Experimental group

Description:

Subjects will limit time on smartphone, in particular avoiding use of social media apps on the smartphone which includes Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Avoiding Social Media Apps