Users of the app also experienced sustained reductions in suicidal thoughts for up to 24 weeks after psychiatric hospitalization
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Aug. 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A mobile phone app designed to deliver suicide-specific therapy reduces suicidal behavior among high-risk psychiatric inpatients, according to a study published online Aug. 8 in JAMA Network Open.
Craig J. Bryan, Psy.D., from The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, and colleagues evaluated the efficacy of a smartphone-based digital therapeutic intervention (OTX-202; Oui Therapeutics, Inc.) delivering suicide-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in reducing suicidal behavior among patients hospitalized for a suicide attempt or suicidal ideation. The analysis included 266 patients from six psychiatric inpatient units who were randomly assigned to a digital therapeutic intervention or a control application group each consisting of 12 sessions lasting 10 to 15 minutes each and followed to week 24.
The researchers found that time to first actual suicide attempt (the primary end point) was not significantly different across treatment groups (P = 0.06). Among the 170 participants with prior suicide attempts, the adjusted rate of follow-up suicide attempts was 58.3 percent lower in the digital therapeutic group versus the control application group (0.70 versus 1.68 attempts per person-year; rate ratio, 0.42) and the odds of clinical improvement were higher in the digital therapeutic group than the control application group (97.9 versus 87.5 percent; odds ratio, 7.59). There were significantly different trajectories of suicidal ideation between the digital therapeutic and control groups, with decreased suicidal ideation through week 24 in the digital therapeutic group, while suicidal ideation decreased through week 12 and then increased at week 24 in the control group. The suicide attempt rate among patients with a prior suicide attempt decreased by 14.0 percent for every digital therapeutic module completed.
“Although suicide-specific therapy is highly effective for reducing suicidal thoughts and urges, finding therapists who know how to do this lifesaving therapy after leaving the hospital can be challenging,” Bryan said in a statement. “OTX-202 provides a possible solution to that problem.”
Several authors disclosed ties to Oui Therapeutics, which funded the study.
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