More than 6,000 Albertans rely on expertly crafted daily text messages to alleviate mental health issues, thanks to a study and the subsequent program developed by U of A psychiatrist Vincent Agyapong and delivered by Alberta Health Services.
Text4Mood is not a replacement for treatments such as counselling services, said Agyapong, but a supplementary tool that's part of the university's ongoing commitment to mental health awareness.
The Text4Mood study, published in 2016 in BMC Psychiatry, was the first to examine text messaging as a public health intervention for mental illness and addiction. The text messages were written by cognitive behavioural therapists, counsellors and mental health patients to target mood and anxiety symptoms. The program delivers a message every day for a 180-day subscription period.
The majority of subscribers in the study reported that the messages made them more hopeful about managing issues in their lives and made them feel in charge of managing depression and anxiety.
Anyone using a cellphone can sign up for the service by simply texting the word "mood" to 760-670-3130.
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