Online depression prevention 'Mental Vitality'

Every year some 740,000 adults in the Netherlands battle with depression. Many more have depressive symptoms. Without help, this group runs a large risk of developing a full-blown depression. If this can be avoided, the gains will be huge.

Improve depression prevention
The Trimbos Institute is joining forces with a large number of partners in developing initiatives to prevent depression. One such venture is the large-scale programme ‘Mental Vitality' [Mentaal Vitaal], consisting of 16 sub-projects which seek to improve depression prevention in various areas.

Online interventions
Two portals are being developed, one for youth and the other for adults. These contain an overview of all the online resources for mental problems. The web-based ‘Colour your Life’ and ‘Everything under Control’ are being modified and expanded, in order to reach a wider target group. Furthermore, ways are being sought to incorporate these online interventions more effectively within primary health care, so that GP's and other practitioners will be more likely to refer patients to them.

New module for relapse prevention
In order to promote mental health – whether symptoms are present or not – a new e-selfhelp intervention is being developed: the Mental Vitality Module. For people who receive treatment for depression, there will be a new module for relapse prevention. This is important because preventing relapse reduces the risk that the depression will acquire a chronic nature.

Standardised indication instrument
Within the Mental Vitality programme, a standardised indication instrument with clear protocols is being developed. Its purpose is to provide appropriate prevention interventions at the right time within the care chain of prevention, treatment and aftercare. And finally, a new quality mark is being developed, and work is being done on a model that will enable funding of the new online interventions by means of the new diagnosis-treatment-combination (DBC) structure.