The meditation app revolution is here, and it’s backed by science
Meditation apps can help reduce blood pressure, repetitive negative thinking, and even gene expression related to inflammation.
Carnegie Mellon University
Do you have a meditation app on your smartphone, computer or wearable device? Well, you’re not alone.
There are now thousands of meditation apps available worldwide, the top 10 of which have been collectively downloaded more than 300 million times. What’s more, early work on these digital meditation platforms shows that even relatively brief usage can lead to benefits, from reduced depression, anxiety, and stress to improved insomnia symptoms.
“Meditation apps, such as Calm and Headspace, have been enormously popular in the commercial market,” said J. David Creswell, a health psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University and lead author of a review paper on meditation apps, published today in the journal American Psychologist. “What they’re doing now is not only engaging millions of users every day, but they’re also creating new scientific opportunities and challenges.”
One huge boon provided by meditation apps for users is access.
“You can imagine a farmer in rural Nebraska not having many available opportunities to go to traditional group-based meditation programs, and now they have an app in their pocket which is available 24/7,” said Creswell, who is the William S. Dietrich II Professor in Psychology and Neuroscience.
Meditation apps also provide scientists with opportunities to scale up their research.
“Historically, I might bring 300 irritable bowel syndrome patients into my lab and study the impacts of meditation on pain management,” said Creswell. “But now I’m thinking, how do we harness the capacity of meditation apps and wearable health sensors to study 30,000 irritable bowel syndrome patients across the world?”
Combined with products that measure heart rate and sleep patterns, such as Fitbit and the Apple Watch, meditation apps now also have the capacity to incorporate biometrics into meditation practices like never before.
The biggest takeaway, though, is that meditation apps are fundamentally changing the way these practices are distributed to the general public. Scientific studies of use patterns show that meditation apps account for 96 percent of overall users in the mental health app marketplace.
“Meditation apps dominate the mental health app market,” said Creswell. “And this paper is really the first to lay out the new normal and challenge researchers and tech developers to think in new ways about the disruptive nature of these apps and their reach.”
Meditation apps challenge users to train their minds, in small initial training doses
As with in-person meditation training, meditation apps start by meeting users where they are. Introductory courses may focus on breathing or mindfulness, but they tend to do so in small doses, the merits of which are still being debated.
According to the data, just 10 to 21 minutes of meditation app exercises done three times a week is enough to see measurable results.
“Of course, that looks really different from the daily meditation practice you might get within an in-person group-based meditation program, which might be 30 to 45 minutes a day,” said Creswell.
The a la carte nature of meditation through a smartphone app may appeal to those pressed for time or without the budget for in-person coaching sessions. Users may also find it comforting to know that they have access to guided meditation on-demand, rather than at scheduled places, days, and times.
“Maybe you’re waiting in line at Starbucks, and you’ve got three minutes to do a brief check-in mindfulness training practice,” said Creswell.
Finally, as meditation apps continue to evolve, Creswell believes integration of AI, such as meditation-guiding chat-bots, will only become more common, and this will offer the option of even more personalization. This could mark an important development for meditation adoption at large, as offerings go from one-size-fits all group classes to training sessions tailored to the individual.
“People use meditation for different things, and there’s a big difference between someone looking to optimize their free-throw shooting performance and someone trying to alleviate chronic pain,” said Creswell, who has trained Olympic athletes in the past.
The elephant in the room
Of course, with new technology comes new challenges, and for meditation apps, continued engagement remains a huge problem.
“The engagement problem is not specific to meditation apps,” said Creswell. “But the numbers are really sobering. Ninety-five percent of participants who download a meditation app aren’t using it after 30 days.”
If the meditation app industry is going to succeed, it will need to find ways to keep its users engaged, as apps like Duolingo have. But overall, Creswell said the market demand is clearly there.
“People are suffering right now. There are just unbelievably high levels of stress and loneliness in the world, and these tools have tremendous potential to help,” he said.
“I don’t think there is ever going to be a complete replacement for a good, in-person meditation group or teacher,” said Creswell. “But I think meditation apps are a great first step for anyone who wants to dip their toes in and start training up their mindfulness skills. The initial studies show that these meditation apps help with symptom relief and even reduce stress biomarkers.”
Journal
American Psychologist
Method of Research
Systematic review
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
The Meditation App Revolution Is Here, And It’s Backed by Science
Article Publication Date
8-Aug-2025
COI Statement
David Creswell is the Chief of Science at Equa Health, Inc.
Mobile phone app reduced suicidal behavior among high-risk patients
Researchers at Yale and Ohio State studied app that delivers suicide-specific therapy
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
image:
Craig Bryan, PsyD, study co-first author Craig Bryan, PsyD, professor in Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and director of its Suicide Prevention Program.
view moreCredit: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A mobile phone app designed to deliver suicide-specific therapy reduced suicidal behavior among high-risk psychiatric inpatients, according to a new study by scientists at Yale School of Medicine and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine.
The study, published Aug. 8, 2025 in JAMA Network Open, found that the app, OTX-202, reduced the recurrence of post-discharge suicide attempts by 58.3% among patients who had previously attempted suicide. This reduction is a critical achievement for a group that is particularly vulnerable to repeated suicidal behaviors, the researchers said.
Users of the app also experienced sustained reductions in suicidal thoughts for up to 24 weeks after psychiatric hospitalization, according to the study. In contrast, patients who used an active control app in addition to treatment as usual showed early improvement, but suicidal thoughts rebounded by week 24.
These findings suggest that OTX-202 may help preserve long-term gains in mental health during the high-risk period following hospital discharge, according to the study.
“Although suicide-specific therapy is highly effective for reducing suicidal thoughts and urges, finding therapists who know how to do this life-saving therapy after leaving the hospital can be challenging. OTX-202 provides a possible solution to that problem,” said study co-first author Craig Bryan, PsyD, professor in Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and director of its Suicide Prevention Program.
Suicide remains among the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.; it is the second leading cause of death among individuals aged 10–14 and 25–34, the third leading cause among those aged 15–24, and the fourth leading cause among those aged 35–44. Since 1999, suicide rates have risen by more than 33%.
Each year, more than 1 million adults engage in nonfatal suicidal behavior, and nearly 500,000 are hospitalized for suicide attempts. Suicide and suicide attempts also cost the U.S. healthcare system and broader economy an estimated $500 billion annually (source), underscoring the urgent need for scalable, effective, and economically viable interventions. Suicide is the only top killer without any prescription products for the vast majority of patients at risk.
“The weeks and months following a suicide crisis and discharge from a hospital are among the highest risk periods for suicide attempts and mortality, making it imperative to offer effective, suicide-specific interventions during this vulnerable window. OTX-202 addresses this critical need,” said co-first author Patricia Simon, PhD, Assistant Professor Adjunct at Yale School of Medicine.
OTX-202, developed by Oui Therapeutics, offers a scalable and cost-effective approach during this critical gap.
Testing of OTX-202 by the Yale and Ohio State researchers involved a multi-site, double-blind randomized controlled trial with 339 psychiatric inpatients from six diverse hospitals across the United States.
The participants were randomly assigned to either the OTX-202 app or an active control app, both in addition to their usual treatment. The OTX-202 app delivered a suicide-specific therapy module while the control app included safety planning and psychoeducation.
Compared to the active control, patients using OTX-202 were significantly more likely to show clinical improvement, as measured by the Clinical Global Impression for Severity of Suicide-Change (CGI-SSC) scale. The CGI is widely used because it provides a standardized, clinician-rated measure of symptom severity and improvement over time, allowing for consistent assessment across diverse patient populations and treatment settings.
“Patients and those who care for them do not have access to reliable and effective tools and resources to reduce future suicide risk. This population faces arguably the biggest gap in access to effective interventions of any leading killer. The potential clinical and population health impact of this new option is extraordinary. We are incredibly appreciative of the support provided by everyone involved, especially the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) who provided funding for the study,” said senior author Seth Feuerstein, MD, JD, a member of the faculty at Yale.
Yale authors include Patricia Simon, PhD; Samuel T. Wilkinson, MD; Lauren Astorino, MSN, APRN; Alecia D. Dager, PhD; and Seth Feuerstein, MD, JD.
Ohio State authors include Craig Bryan, PsyD; Kristen M. Carpenter, PhD; Luke Misquitta, MD; Katherine Brownlowe, MD; Lauren R. Khazem, PhD; Jarred Hay and Austin G. Starkey.
Funding support: This research was supported in part by Oui Therapeutics Inc and by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R42MH123357).
The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors, and it does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
###
Journal
JAMA Network Open
Method of Research
Randomized controlled/clinical trial
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
A Digital Therapeutic Intervention for Inpatients with Elevated Suicide Risk
Article Publication Date
8-Aug-2025
No comments:
Post a Comment