NICE Backs Digital CBT Apps for Youngsters With Anxiety

A draft proposal by the health technology assessment (HTA) agency NICE in the UK has ‘provisionally recommended that digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) apps can be used within the NHS to treat children and young people with mild to moderate anxiety.’

The proposal lists the usage of five CBT apps which can be used ‘with the support of a mental health practitioner’ until further practical evidence of their benefits is found. It is important to note that NICE had previously agreed to the use of digital CBT for young people with mild depression.

The five apps covered in the proposal are: BfB Labs’ Lumi Nova: Tales of Courage, SilverCloud’s ‘Space from’ series, Online support and intervention for child anxiety (OSI), Online Social anxiety Cognitive therapy for Adolescents (OSCA), and Healios’ ThinkNinja CBT Bytesize.

This move will help plug a treatment gap in mental health while promoting the use of digital technology in the NHS, aligning with the NHS’s Long Term Plans.

While a report in 2021 from Future Care Capital urged the UK government to ‘invest in the digitisation of service provision for mental health’ to help make up for the lack of support for the field, others don’t seem to be on board with the idea of digital mental health tools.

A recent research published by The Alan Turing Institute polled students and staff from 10 UK universities and found concerns regarding digital-first approach, data privacy policies, lack of empathy offered by technology among others while using digital technologies for treating mental health issues. 

The NICE proposal is currently open for comment until 18 November.