Two Duke grads have developed an app that may help diagnose and treat depression.
Eddie Liu and Nancy Su, Trinity ‘15, created the application MoodTools in 2014 to help those suffering from mental health problems. Available for both iOS and Android users, the app is completely free with no advertisements and has been downloaded more than 125,000 times in the past 15 months. Liu and Su explained that the inspiration for the app came from their experiences supporting friends who suffered from depression and the death of a friend from suicide.
“I created MoodTools because I’ve always been interested in mental health as well as technologies,” Liu wrote in an email. “The only other [depression apps] I saw were ineffective, expensive and badly designed. I knew I could do better.”
Su explained that they wanted to create an app that presented comprehensive information in a smooth, easy-to-use interface—but one that would still be ad-free and free of charge.
Liu and Su collaborated with a number of mental health professionals to develop MoodTools, including Gary Glass, associate director for outreach and developmental programming for Counseling and Psychological Services, and Timothy Strauman, professor of psychology and neuroscience.
MoodTools contains six different tools bundled together in one app. One such tool is a clinically-validated test that allows users to track the severity of their depression symptoms over time.
“If somebody doesn’t know if they have depression and thus are reluctant to seek treatment, they can get a perspective on how severe their mood problems are with the test,” Liu wrote.
He added that this test may motivate individuals to seek help—which they can find using resources that the app links to. MoodTools can also supplement an individual’s pre-established treatment, he noted.
Other features of the app include an information section that provides self-help guides and links to online resources and a video section that features guided meditations and TED talks. In addition, a thought diary helps users reframe their negative thoughts, and an activity tracker encourages them to do energy-boosting activities. A suicide safety plan also provides users with fast access to crisis hotlines.
Mental health issues have received increased attention in recent years. Liu and Su explained that an estimated 15 million American adults suffer from depression each year, making it one of the most common disorders in the United States. However, half of Americans with major depression do not receive any treatment, and only one in ten receives adequate treatment.
Lack of treatment options for depression is even worse outside of the U.S. due to issues of awareness, access, cost and delivery of treatment. After initially releasing MoodTools to U.S. customers only, Liu and Su received complaints from people around the world who wanted to use the app. They noted that they are currently working to make MoodTools easier for people living in other countries to access.
“Our target audience is anybody who may be feeling down or depressed, especially in areas where there may be difficult access to mental health resources,” Su wrote. “We’ve seen a lot of downloads from across the globe, which is very motivational for me personally, as mental health may not be as big of a topic or is more stigmatized in other countries compared to the United States.”
Right now, more than half of their users live outside the U.S., Liu noted.
Liu and Su are now working to improve MoodTools and plan to create apps directed toward other mental health issues.
“I’ve already released 21 updates in the past year, and we will continue to add features such as additional languages, a medication tracker and other things,” Liu wrote.
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