Mathias Harrer

Technische Universität München | TUM · Psychology & Digital Mental Health Care

Importance Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common mental disorders in adults. Psychotherapies are among the most recommended treatments for GAD, but which should be considered as first-line treatment needs to be clarified. Objective To use a network meta-analysis to examine the short- and long-term associations of different p...

Link to the online R tutorial webpage: rct-tutorial.mharrer.dev.

Background In low-resource settings, e-mental health may substantially increase access to evidence-based interventions for common mental disorders. We conducted a systematic literature search to identify randomised trials examining the effects of digital interventions with or without therapeutic guidance compared to control conditions in individual...

Background Considered one of the highest levels of evidence, results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) remain an essential building block in mental health research. They are frequently used to confirm that an intervention “works” and to guide treatment decisions. Given their importance in the field, it is concerning that the quality of many RC...

Background It is not clear if there is an interaction between psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. First, there may be no interaction at all, meaning that the effects of both are independent of each other. Second, antidepressants may reduce the effects of psychotherapy, and third, antidepressants may increase the effects of psychotherapy. We examined...

Initial findings indicate the effectiveness of internet-based interventions for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). In order to substantiate these findings, a seven-module guided internet-based intervention was created and examined. We report the mixed data of participants with clinical and subclinical BDD of the treatment group ( n = 18). We investiga...

Background: It is not yet known whether psychological treatments of depression in primary care have comparable effects to treatments in specialized mental health care. We conducted a meta-analysis comparing randomized controlled trials in primary and specialized care. Methods: We selected studies from an existing database of randomized trials of...

Background: Depression is highly prevalent among individuals with chronic back pain. Internet-based interventions can be effective in treating and preventing depression in this patient group, but it is unclear who benefits most from this intervention format. Method: In an analysis of two randomized trials (N = 504), we explored ways to predict h...

Background: Over the past 16 years, we have developed a 'Meta-analytic Research Domain' (MARD) of all randomized trials of psychological treatments of depression. A MARD is a living systematic review of a research field, that cannot be otherwise covered by one (network) meta-analysis and includes multiple PICOs. In this paper we give an overview o...

Objective Behavioral activation (BA) is an extensively examined treatment for depression which is relatively simple to apply in comparison to other psychotherapies. BA aims to increase positive interactions between a person and the environment. All previous meta-analyses focused on BA in groups and guided self-help, but none focused on BA in indivi...

Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration-Disorder (GPPPD) is a common disorder but rarely treated in routine care. Previous research documents that GPPPD symptoms can be treated effectively using internet-based psychological interventions. However, non-response remains common for all state-of-the-art treatments and it is unclear which patient groups are expe...

Background: Excessive crying, sleeping, and feeding problems in early childhood are major stressors that can result in parents feeling socially isolated and having low self-efficacy. Affected children are a risk group for being maltreated and developing emotional and behavioral problems. Thus, the development of an innovative and interactive psych...

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is by far the most examined type of psychological treatment for depression and is recommended in most treatment guide­lines. However, no recent meta‐analysis has integrated the results of randomized trials examining its effects, and its efficacy in comparison with other psychotherapies, pharmacotherapies and combine...

Most people with a mental disorder meet criteria for multiple disorders. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials comparing psychotherapies for people with depression and comorbid other mental disorders with non-active control conditions. We identified studies through an existing database of randomized trials on psych...

Background: In the past 10 years an increasing number of randomised trials have examined the effects of transdiagnostic treatments of patients with depression or anxiety. We conducted the first comprehensive meta-analysis of the outcomes of this emerging field. Methods: We used the searches in PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase and the Cochrane library o...

Introduction Digital health interventions are an effective way to treat depression, but it is still largely unclear how patients’ individual symptoms evolve dynamically during such treatments. Data-driven forecasts of depressive symptoms would allow to greatly improve the personalisation of treatments. In current forecasting approaches, models are...

BACKGROUND Excessive crying, sleeping, and feeding problems in early childhood are major stressors that can result in parents feeling socially isolated and having low self-efficacy. Affected children are a risk group for being maltreated and developing emotional and behavioral problems. Thus, the development of an innovative and interactive psychoe...

Because of the rapidly increasing number of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses in many fields, there is an urgent need to step up from meta-analyses to higher levels of aggregation of outcomes of RCTs. Network meta-analyses and umbrella reviews allow higher levels of aggregation of RCT outcomes, but cannot adequately cover the ev...

Digital health applications are becoming increasingly important for assessing and monitoring the wellbeing of people suffering from mental health conditions like depression. A common target of said applications is to predict the results of self-assessed Patient-Health-Questionnaires (PHQ), indicating current symptom severity of depressive individua...

Previous studies have shown the correlation be-tween sensor data collected from mobile phones and human depression states. Compared to the traditional self-assessment questionnaires, the passive data collected from mobile phones is easier to access and less time-consuming. In particular, passive mobile phone data can be collected on a flexible time...

Previous studies have shown the correlation between sensor data collected from mobile phones and human depression states. Compared to the traditional self-assessment questionnaires, the passive data collected from mobile phones is easier to access and less time-consuming. In particular, passive mobile phone data can be collected on a flexible time...

Digital health applications are becoming increasingly important for assessing and monitoring the wellbeing of people suffering from mental health conditions like depression. A common target of said applications is to predict the results of self-assessed Patient-Health-Questionnaires (PHQ), indicating current symptom severity of depressive individua...

Zusammenfassung Zielsetzung Trotz der Effektivität verschiedener E‑Mental-Health-Interventionen wurden bislang verhältnismäßig geringe Nutzungsraten, selbst unter Digital Natives wie Studierenden, identifiziert. Ziel dieser Studie ist daher, das Verhältnis der generellen Akzeptanz, dem konkreten Interesse und der tatsächlichen Registrierung für au...

While randomized trials typically lack sufficient statistical power to identify predictors and moderators of outcome, “individual participant data” (IPD) meta-analyses, which combine primary data of multiple randomized trials, can increase the statistical power to identify predictors and moderators of outcome. We conducted a systematic review of IP...

Objective: This experiment aims to investigate the influence of narrative information varying in the degree of perceived similarity and source credibility in supplemented testimonials on the acceptance of digital mental health services (digi-MHSs). Methods: In fall 2020, n =231 university students were randomly assigned to an active control group (...

This book serves as an accessible introduction into how meta-analyses can be conducted in R. Essential steps for meta-analysis are covered, including pooling of outcome measures, forest plots, heterogeneity diagnostics, subgroup analyses, meta-regression, methods to control for publication bias, risk of bias assessments and plotting tools. Advance...

Electronic mental health services (eMHSs) offer additional options for the dissemination of psychological interventions for university students. Still, many university students are reluctant to use eMHSs. Narrative messages may help increase the awareness and acceptance of quality-approved programs. However, little is known about the usefulness of...

Background: Many depressed patients are treated in institutional settings. The number of studies focusing on psychotherapies for depressed patients in institutional settingsis limited, and only a few up-to-date meta-analyses have integrated the results of these studies. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of 32 randomized trials with 37 compariso...

Depression is highly prevalent among university students. Internet-based interventions have been found to be effective in addressing depressive symptoms, but it is open if this also applies to interventions directed at academic stress. It is also largely unclear if the techniques employed in such programs provide significant additional benefits whe...

Background After remission, antidepressants are often taken long term to prevent depressive relapse or recurrence. Whether psychological interventions can be a viable alternative or addition to antidepressants remains unclear. Aims To compare the effectiveness of psychological interventions as an alternative (including delivered when tapering anti...

Introduction: Evidence on effects of Internet-based interventions to treat subthreshold depression (sD) and prevent the onset of major depression (MDD) is inconsistent. Objective: We conducted an individual participant data meta-analysis to determine differences between intervention and control groups (IG, CG) in depressive symptom severity (DSS...

Background: Eating problems are highly prevalent among young adults. Universities could be an optimal setting to prevent the onset of eating disorders through psychological intervention. As part of the World Mental Health-International College Student initiative, this systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizes data on the efficacy of eating d...

Mental disorders are highly prevalent and often remain untreated. Many limitations of conventional face-to-face psychological interventions could potentially be overcome through Internet-based and mobile-based interventions (IMIs). This chapter introduces core features of IMIs, describes areas of application, presents evidence on the efficacy of IM...

Internet-based and mobile interventions (IMIs) can help students to effectively cope with stress, but lacking awareness represents a barrier for adoption. While research suggests acceptance-facilitating effects of information, little is known about the additional value of testimonials in improving the uptake of IMIs for students. Objective: The aim...

Background. Eating problems are highly prevalent among young adults. Universities could be an optimal setting to prevent eating disorders through psychological intervention. As part of the World Mental Health-International College Student initiative, this systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizes data on the efficacy of eating disorder preven...

Background: Mental disorders are highly prevalent among university students. Distance- learning students are particularly burdened and have limited access to conventional university health services. Interventions for stress are sought after in distance learners and may help increase treatment coverage. Internet-based interventions have been shown t...

Stress related mental health problems are common among university students. Internet based and mobile interventions (IMIs) can help students to effectively cope with stress. However, lacking knowledge and negative attitudes may be barriers to use such interventions. While research suggests that information can be acceptance facilitating , little is...

Background: Meditation, yoga, and mindfulness are popular interventions at universities and tertiary education institutes to improve mental health. However, the effects on depression, anxiety, and stress are unclear. This study assessed the effectiveness of meditation, yoga, and mindfulness on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in tertiary...

Background: Internet interventions have been proposed to improve the accessibility and use of evidence-based psychological treatments. However, little is known about attitudes toward such treatments, which can be an important barrier to their use. Objective: This study aimed to (1) determine attitudes toward guided internet interventions, (2) asse...

Background: Mental health problems are highly prevalent among college students. Most students with poor mental health, however, do not receive professional help. Internet-based self-help formats may increase the utilization of treatment. Objective: The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to evaluate the efficacy of an internet-based, app-su...

http://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/download/10735/accepted/pdf

Interview guideline – individually tailored questions.

Interview guide – fixed questions.

Excerpt from the Internet - and Mobile based stress intervention for college students StudiCare.

Flow of participants (CONSORT flow chart) [IG = intervention group, CG = control group, CONSORT = Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials].

Introduction Academic education is often associated with increased stress and adverse effects on mental health. Internet-based interventions have shown to be effective in reducing stress-related symptoms. However, college students as target group so far have not been reached appropriately with psychological interventions and little is known about c...

Die ökonomischen Konsequenzen von chronischen Rückenschmerzen sind beträchtlich und die Häufigkeit hat in den letzten Jahren zugenommen. Depressionen zählen zu den Krankheiten die am meisten Krankheitslast in Industrienationen verursachen. Versicherte mit chronischen Rückenschmerzen haben ein zwei- bis dreifach erhöhtes Risiko an einer Depression z...