The new mode of computerized therapy in improving the symptoms of bipolar disorder in adolescents

Abstract

Background

Bipolar disorder usually leads to serious mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, psychotic symptoms, and cognitive impairment. Therefore, timely diagnosis and treatment are crucial. The existing computer therapy is mostly based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which takes functional contextualism as its philosophical foundation and empirical research on the basic properties of human cognition and language. Its goal is to improve psychological flexibility by balancing acceptance and change.

Subjects and Methods

The study designed a computerized treatment program for bipolar disorder based on six core technologies of ACT: (1) facing bipolar disorder directly, (2) accepting the current situation without avoiding it, (3) cognitively controlling one’s own state, (4) observing one’s psychological state more, (5) living in the present, and (6) maintaining independent values. Adolescents were selected for the MDQ questionnaire, and a control group experiment was conducted. The experimental group received computerized therapy for eight weeks of intervention.

Results

After treatment analysis, the results were obtained and analyzed by SPSS 23.0. The MDQ value of the experimental group significantly decreased, but there was no significant improvement in the control group. 58% of the tested adolescents in the experimental group showed significant improvement in symptoms.

Conclusions

The research results show that the new computer therapy model for bipolar disorder based on ACT has certain effects and can be used for primary autonomous intervention treatment. Further treatment is worthy of deeper research.

Acknowledgement

The research foundation ability improvement project of Young and middle-aged teachers in colleges and universities in Guangxi in 2022, No. 2022KY1458.