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# A smartphone game with optional CBT beat a waitlist on symptoms and adherence
- URL: https://www.coios.me/a-smartphone-game-with-optional-cbt-beat-a-waitlist-on/
- Published: 2026-09-20T09:38:08.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-20T09:38:08.000Z
- Description: In 148 adults on antidepressants with residual symptoms, nine weeks of a CBT-based smartphone game with optional internet CBT improved depressive symptoms (d = 0.74) and medication adherence (d = 0.46) against a waitlist, though 40.8% of the intervention arm dropped out against 18.1% of controls.
- Author: Daniel Ryan
- Tags: Behavioural science, What changes behaviour at scale, Sweden, #peer-reviewed, #new, #item, #source-2026-09

A randomised controlled trial gave 148 adults already on antidepressants but with residual symptoms nine weeks of access to a CBT-based smartphone game, 25 optional internet CBT modules and therapist support on demand, or placed them on a waitlist. Depressive symptoms favoured the intervention (d = 0.74), as did anxiety (d = 0.67) and self-reported adherence (d = 0.46), with 51% against 19% reaching at least 30% improvement. Quality of life did not differ, and the authors state that the effect cannot be attributed to the game alone.

*Why it is interesting: Medication adherence is among the few behaviours shifted in a randomised design, though a waitlist comparator and differential attrition both inflate what an effect size of this kind means.*

Source

[Journal of Affective Disorders, 18 September 2026](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2026.122494?ref=coios.me)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2026.122494

Type

Peer-reviewed article

Design

Randomised controlled trial, 148 adults on antidepressants with residual symptoms, 9 weeks, waitlist comparator

Verdict

New finding

Driver

[What changes behaviour at scale](https://www.coios.me/d-behaviour-change/)