What should an AI chatbot do when someone shows signs of a mental health crisis?
In a new pre-print with @arkaghosh024.bsky.social and more, we draw from community helper / gatekeeper models to propose AI crisis support design principles aimed at empowering users.
arxiv.org/abs/2603.05647
@dingdingpeng.the100.ci do you guys have merch? I need this on a t-shirt.
Can less than 10 minutes daily on a mindfulness app improve the mental health of people of color exposed to discrimination? Based on our new publication in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (@jmirpub.bsky.social), the answer is yes!
www.jmir.org/2026/1/e84328/
A 🧵:
1/ New paper 👀 TL; DR the COMET single session intervention (SSI) was superior in reducing depression, anxiety, and to a lesser extent improving well-being than a waiting control in college students.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In trials of internet-delivered mental health interventions, treatment as usual (TAU) controls rarely reflect real online help-seeking. In a new paper (mental.jmir.org/2026/1/e83707), we show popular online content (YouTube videos, infographics, etc.) can feasibly make TAU controls more realistic.
Our crowdsourced megastudy comparing a diverse set of 12 single-session interventions for depression is out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com!
Read the full paper here: rdcu.be/e6pzz (no paywall)
We also published a brief non-academic piece about the study today: theconversation.com/free-10-minu...
Only ONE consistently predicted intervention effectiveness:
The interventions’ specificity to the outcomes measured.
No other features we tested here (attentional ease, presence of images, videos, or questions, length, conceptual construction, etc.) predicted interventions' effect sizes.
2/2
📣 Digital Research Community!
The new UK Adolescent Health Study will follow 100k young people (8–18yrs) for 10+ years. Please share what digital technology measures you think it should include.
Please complete this survey (by 24th November 2025 @ 9AM): cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
I'm looking for a postdoc to work on our NIH-funded R01 which is a longitudinal cohort of adolescents (13-20) doing EMA and passive text sensing! Please apply, especially if you have experience in the analysis OR collection of these data.
PLEASE SHARE!!
indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/32132
Do you want to work with me?:) Please spread the word! We are looking for talented Post-doc candidates for a 10-month Junior Fellowship at the Behavioral Science Center, hosted by the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies (CIAS). 1/6
www.the-bs-lab.com
Background: Racially and ethnically minoritized individuals (REMs) who experience discrimination are at risk of developing stress, anxiety, and depression, and digital mental health interventions (DMH...
People experiencing mental health crises frequently turn to open-ended generative AI (GenAI) chatbots for support. However, rather than providing immediate assistance, some GenAI chatbots are designed...
Background: Treatment-as-usual (TAU) conditions are intended to reflect the support typically received in routine treatment settings. For digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) delivered online, ...
Nature Human Behaviour - An online experiment compared 12 brief online interventions for depression. Most improved mental health immediately, but these gains decreased over time, with only two...
New blog post! Let's say an effect you are interested in varies between countries and you want to explain some of that cross-cultural variation.
What could possibly go wrong?
www.the100.ci/2026/05/20/f...
What do we do?
We conduct large-scale behavioral science studies to improve the daily decisions, behavior, and experience of vulnerable individuals (e.g., the well-being of citizens and families / ed...
www.the-bs-lab.com
Header image: Moderate cross-country slopes (Photo: By Erik W. Kolstad - Flickr, CC BY 2.0,)
Here’s a particular genre of article that relies on multiple data collection sites, such as studies anal...
Postdoctoral Researcher Study of Affective Disorders’ Classification and Treatment (SADCAT) Lab Dr. Lorenzo-Lorenzo LuacesDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University Blooming...
