text_1: Treating depression w/ software: Tech from Mount Sinai steps into the digital healthcare universe
text_2: The news release describes an interesting new technology that uses computer technology to try to “rebalance” activity in regions in the brain of depressed patients towards normal patterns by having them repeatedly do a task involving identifying moods on faces. Industry connections were clearly established, which is good. But many details are missing: How many people were in the study? How severe was their depression before and after? What were the limitations? Any adverse events? We need more and better ways of treating depression, which is one of the chronic diseases that disables millions of U.S. adults. But this release does not go far enough to help readers assess this new therapy’s potential, nor how it might compare to existing techniques such as drugs and psychotherapy.