HealthDay (8/14, Solomon) reports a study found that “a mobile phone app designed to deliver suicide-specific therapy reduces suicidal behavior among high-risk psychiatric inpatients.” The researchers evaluated the efficacy of OTX-202, a smartphone-based digital therapeutic intervention that delivers “suicide-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in reducing suicidal behavior among patients hospitalized for a suicide attempt or suicidal ideation.”
They found that “time to first actual suicide attempt (the primary end point) was not significantly different across treatment groups. Among the 170 participants with prior suicide attempts, the adjusted rate of follow-up suicide attempts was 58.3% lower in the digital therapeutic group versus the control application group and the odds of clinical improvement were higher in the digital therapeutic group than the control application group.”
They also observed “decreased suicidal ideation through week 24 in the digital therapeutic group, while suicidal ideation decreased through week 12 and then increased at week 24 in the control group.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “Suicide-Specific Therapy App Effectively Cuts Suicidal Behavior in High-Risk Inpatients,” Lori Solomon, HealthDay, August 14, 2025