NICE backs digital CBT for youngsters with depression

NICE has recommended digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) should be used as a first-line treatment for children and young people with mild depression. The draft guideline is an overarching document that paves the way for more use of this technology and is part of NICE’s drive to encourage more use of digital health therapies on the NHS. It also fits with goals in the NHS Long Term Plan to encourage the use of digital technology on the NHS. Digital CBT is already recommended by NICE for adults with mild to moderate depression. NICE made the recommendations following a trial published in The Lancet looking at psychological therapies in young people.
Digital CBT can be delivered on mobile phones, tablets or computers and can be made readily available, avoiding waiting lists and giving children and young people faster access to psychological help. NICE said it can be offered to children or young people, age five to eighteen, with continuing symptoms of mild depression who do not have other significant health conditions or suicidal thoughts.