Psychiatric News (10/10) reports a study found that “gamifying psychotherapies that are augmented with mobile health technology may help older patients with depression stay engaged with their treatment and improve their symptoms.” Researchers observed that at 12 weeks, “participants who received gamified therapy had more than eight times the odds of completing their daily homework compared with those whose therapy was not gamified. In addition, MADRS scores dropped a mean of 9.58 points in the group that received gamified therapy, compared with 4.73 in the non-gamified psychotherapy group.” They concluded, “These findings imply that gamification may provide a potential solution to the crucial challenge of low adherence in [mobile health] psychotherapies, while simultaneously enhancing treatment outcomes for late-life depression.” The study was published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. (SOURCE: APA Headlines)