When we talk about therapy in psychology, we usually imagine a scenario in which professional and patient share the same room and exchange experiences, feelings, concerns, knowledge in a spoken way… If the professional takes some notes or provides some written material to the patient.

However, this version of the therapy is quite reductive, especially at present . Today, new technologies allow us to communicate in multiple ways and share data remotely and immediately opening the way to new forms of therapy.

The role of new technologies in psychotherapy

In 2011 the American psychologists Alan Kazdin and Stacey Blase published their article Rebooting Psychotherapy Research and Practice to Reduce the Burden of Mental Illness . In this text they argue that while the classic idea of the therapist-patient dyad may be the most effective and most accepted modality by patients, it is necessary to incorporate other ways of acting in order to reach those people who do not have access to any type of psychotherapeutic treatment.

To achieve this, they talk about the potential of new technologies, based mainly on mobile phones and the Internet . However, this is also a reductionist version in which the use of new technologies is considered for those cases in which face-to-face therapy is not possible.

Data collection in Psychology is fundamental in interventions carried out from a cognitive-behavioral approach when records or self-records are used. In these, it is necessary to collect the moment (place, time… etc) of the behaviour and the sensations, emotions or thoughts associated with it , as well as other relevant information (what was happening, who the person was with… etc) that allows to establish a pattern and/or baseline in order to know the behaviour in a more objective way.

The more immediate in time and accurate that data collection is, the better results can be obtained. That is what the term Ecological Momentary Assessment, or EMA , refers to (Shiffman, Stone, & Hufford, 2008) and what we can translate as Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA).

The difficulties that are usually encountered when collecting this data are those of remembering and recording emotions, cognitions and/or behaviours, as the lack of non-intrusive methods that allow the collection of this data usually expands in time. But the current use of smartphones allows people to make an immediate data collection to the occurrence of the behavior and in the natural environment of the person, and even automating some of the data as the date, time and even the place.

Ecological Momentary Interventions

Studies conducted on the basis of electronic agendas (Palm or PDA) show that using the EMA favors a collection of data that is very different from the traditional paper and pencil in many areas of psychology (Shiffman et al., 2008). However, this technology had a series of limitations which, although they facilitated the collection of ecological and momentary information, did not allow for more complex functionalities such as synchronisation with servers or voice recognition.

Smartphones far surpass these barriers , establishing themselves as an ideal technology; not only for the collection of information, but can also be used to carry out what Runyan and colleagues (2013) have called Ecological Momentary Intervention (EMI).

As its name indicates, the “momentary” and “ecological” intervention is associated with the possibility of intervening with the person at the precise moment when the behaviour is taking place and in a natural or non-invasive way, making available to people, for example, self-instructions or guidelines that they can consult immediately and thus lower the levels of anxiety.

In this way, new technologies do not replace a face-to-face intervention, but complement it by making it more effective.

At present, and from a big data perspective, the use of the smartphone blurs the distinction between EMA and EMI, as it opens up the possibility of carrying out an online intervention via a mobile application that connects to devices and allows continuous feedback between the data collected in the evaluation phase and during the intervention. Thus, we speak of Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment/Interventions (Runyan et al., 2013).

The advantages of a real-time updated record

Having devices that collect data and have the ability to share them in real time with professionals and researchers has been a turning point in the work done with EMA and EMI, allowing especially in the latter a level of customization so far impossible (Wangberg & Psychol, 2013).

This can be of great importance in the field of psychological assessment and intervention , and more so in the field of research, and can revolutionize the way theoretical models are developed.

In recent years, new technologies have been emerging which, when made available to professionals, allow the concepts discussed in the article to be put into practice.

One of the most relevant examples could be PsicoReg. This innovative platform provides professionals in psychology and psychiatry, among others, with a system for management, data collection and intervention through a PPP aimed at the patient.

Bibliographic references:

  • Armayones-Ruiz, M., Gómez-Zúñiga, B., Hernández-Encuentra, E., & Pousada, M. (2015) Big Data and Psychology: an opportunity for the Internet of People? Aloma, Revista de Psicologia, Ciències de l’Educació i de l’Esport, 33(2), 21-29. ISSN: 1138-3194.
  • Kazdin, A. E., & Blase, S. L. (2011). Rebooting Psychotherapy Research and Practice to Reduce the Burden of Mental Illness. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(1), 21-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610393527.
  • Shiffman, S., Stone, A. A., & Hufford, M. R. (2008). Ecological momentary assessment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, 1-32 https://doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091415
  • Runyan JD, Steenbergh TA, Bainbridge C, Daugherty DA, Oke L, Fry BN (2013) A Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment/Intervention “App” for Collecting Real-Time Data and Promoting Self-Awareness. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71325. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071325.
  • Wangberg, S. C., & Psychol, C. (2013). Personalized technology for supporting health behaviors. IEEE 4th International Conference on Cognitive Infocommunications (CogInfoCom) 339-344. doi:10.1109/CogInfoCom.2013.6719267.