Gaming Your Brain to Treat Depression
From: Medical Design Technology - 01/05/2017

Researchers have found promising results for treating depression with a video
game interface that targets underlying cognitive issues associated with
depression rather than just managing the symptoms.

The first study enrolled older adults diagnosed with late-life depression
into a treatment trial where they were randomized to receive either a mobile,
tablet-based treatment technology developed by Akili Interactive Labs called
Project: EVO or an in-person therapy technique known as problem-solving
therapy (PST).

Project: EVO runs on phones and tablets and is designed to improve focus and
attention at a basic neurological level. The results, published January 3rd
in the journal Depression and Anxiety, showed that the group using Project:
EVO demonstrated specific cognitive benefits (such as attention) compared to
the behavioral therapy, and saw similar improvements in mood and
self-reported function. Joaquin A. Anguera, a University of California, San
Francisco (UCSF), researcher in neurology and psychiatry, is the lead author,
and Patricia Arean, a UW Medicine researcher in psychiatry and behavioral
sciences, is the senior author. The researchers have no commercial interests
in the intervention manufactured by Akili Interactive Labs in Boston.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2017/01/gaming-your-brain-treat-depression

Links:
EVO 
http://www.akiliinteractive.com/#products-section

Akili Interactive Labs
http://www.akiliinteractive.com

Akili and Pfizer Present Positive Data from Digital Biomarker Study to Detect
  Subtle Cognitive Changes in Healthy Subjects at Risk of Developing
  Alzheimer's Disease
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161209005095/en/Akili-Pfizer-Present-Positive-Data-Digital-Biomarker

Joaquin A. Anguera
http://neuroscape.ucsf.edu/profile/joaquin-anguera
http://profiles.ucsf.edu/joaquin.anguera

Patricia Arean
https://aims.uw.edu/patricia-are%C3%A1n-phd-ucsf-0
http://www.brightencenter.com/people/patricia-arean
http://profiles.ucsf.edu/patricia.arean