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edupression
at a glance

Everything about indication, area of application and evidence.

without waiting time

Digital psychotherapy for depression1

edupression is a digital health application (‘DiGA’) officially listed by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (‘BfArM’) for the treatment of unipolar depression.1

ICD 10 codes: These indications can be treated with edupression

F32.0

Mild depressive episode

F32.1

Moderate depressive episode

F33.0

Recurrent depressive disorder, currently mild episode

F33.1

Recurrent depressive disorder, currently moderate episode

The S3 guideline recommends the use of DiGA (IMI, internet- and mobile-based interventions) as first-line therapy for mild depression. In moderately severe cases, edupression is recommended in combination with pharmacotherapy or face-to-face psychotherapy.2

DiGA in the treatment of depression

Added value for patients and practice

DiGA in the
treatment of depression

Added value for patients and practice

Immediate start of therapy

By prescribing a DiGA, you can shorten the waiting time for face-to-face psychotherapy for your patients, which can often last for months. Digital therapy can even be used as monotherapy for mild depression. 

Treatment independent of time and place

With an internet-enabled device, depression therapy via DiGA is always available when your patients need it. This means that help is also available when depressive symptoms occur acutely.

Budget-neutral

Prescribing a digital health application does not affect your practice’s pharmaceutical budget.

No patient co-payment

Statutory health insurance companies cover the full cost of a DiGA.

Proven effectiveness

The BfArM only grants approval as a DiGA if the efficacy of the application has been proven in a randomised clinical trial. This makes DiGA an effective treatment option for depression.

Therefore edupression

How edupression supports your treatment

In the eFICASY study, the effectiveness of edupression was investigated in comparison to a sham treatment (1:1 randomisation). The study demonstrated a significant reduction in depression severity (PHQ-9 score) and a significant improvement in depression competence through the use of edupression.3,4

Learn more

edupression contains comprehensible and visually appealing information texts, videos and quizzes to provide patients with comprehensive information about their illness. There are also numerous exercises, e.g. on breathing, mindfulness, resilience and acceptance, dealing with emotions and thoughts and progressive muscle relaxation.

edupression relies on three mechanisms of action to treat your patients: psychotherapy, psychoeducation and therapy feedback. The focus is on psychoeducation – it is part of all 59 edupression therapy sessions.
Among other things, edupression imparts knowledge about:

  • Development and influencing factors as well as symptoms and course of depression
  • Nervous system and stress reactions
  • Exercise and relaxation for depression
  • Therapy-resistant depression
  • Therapy options and antidepressant therapy

edupression psychotherapy contains exercises and training to apply the knowledge learned. edupression provides therapy feedback in the form of reports – e.g. on the PHQ-9 test, mood chart, therapy situation, learning overview and bipolarity.

Users of edupression have the option of inviting you as a practitioner in the Communication section of the app by entering your email address. You can then keep an eye on the progress of your therapy and save reports.

Register for free

Request test code

Testing edupression from the patient’s perspective

In order to explain the functionality and benefits of edupression to your patients in the best possible way, you have the opportunity to try out the digital therapy programme yourself. Our trial access gives you 3 days’ access to the edupression content as it will be available to your patients.

To be able to use the test access, you need an individual access code. Simply request this using our form – we will send you the code by email within a short time.

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Evidence

edupression – the effective, evidence-based therapy program for depression

As certified medical devices, DiGAs are part of statutory standard care in Germany and are a treatment strategy recommended by guidelines for adults with unipolar depression.1,2,5 A central criterion for inclusion in the DiGA directory of the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (‘BfArM’) is proof of a positive treatment effect by means of a scientific study.1

edupression in practice

In order to assess the use of edupression in everyday practice, a Vienna working group led by Prof. Lukas Pezawas conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the German NeuroTransData register on the effectiveness, treatment adherence and user retention of edupression.

Basis of the analysis

The analysis was based on data from 170 adult patients over the age of 18 who were prescribed DiGA as monotherapy or add-on therapy for the first time between November 17, 2023 and May 1st, 2024. Three quarters (73%) of those affected were female and 47% had a recurrent depressive episode. Moderate depression was present in 83% and 73% were receiving pharmacotherapy.6

PHQ-9 score

Between baseline and day 90, the PHQ-9 score of the participants had improved by an average of 4.62 points. The data also showed that more frequent use of the DiGA can be worthwhile: In patients who used edupression more than twice a week, the severity of depression decreased by 5.32 PHQ-9 points, while in those with lower frequency of use (< twice a week) it only decreased by 2.87 points.6

Study design and population

The edupression approval study is the eFICASY study. It was based on particularly high quality criteria. The prospective study (German Clinical Trials Registry (DRKS): DRKS00032121; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT040839822) included 250 patients over the age of 18 with mild to moderate depression (defined as PHQ-9* ≥ 5) who were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to an intervention with edupression or an active sham treatment (sham control).3,4

The control subjects were provided with an app with an identical user interface and mood monitoring. However, the sham app did not contain any effective psychoeducational or psychotherapeutic content, but only popular psychological content with no proven effect as well as general health and relaxation tips. The primary endpoint of the eFICASY study was depression severity at week 12. The primary analysis of the randomized controlled trial was conducted according to the intention-to-treat principle (ITT principle).3,4

The use of edupression was associated with clinically relevant improvements compared to the control group. By week 12 of the study, the PHQ-9 score in the intervention group decreased significantly by 2.3 points (95% confidence interval [CI]: -3.5 to -1.0) compared to the active control group (p < 0.001).4

In addition to depression severity, depression competence was also determined in the eFICASY study (secondary endpoint). The measurement was carried out using the D-Lit questionnaire**. Among edupression users, depression competence of edupression users increased steadily from baseline to week 12, while it remained almost unchanged in the control group (D-Lit difference: 0.8; 95% CI: 0.2 to 1.4; p = 0.016).4

Subgroup analyses within the intervention group also show that the treatment effects were independent of age, gender and severity of depression as well as psychopharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.4

What our depression specialists say

Dr Harsha Buksh

Psychiatrist

edupression strengthens
my therapy.

I have been looking for a long time to find a digital medical product in the field of depression that meets my expectations. edupression succeeds in every respect.

Dr Emmalynn Mazzia

Psychologist

I can also observe my clients’ progress between two therapy sessions.

The content is very informative and practice-orientated. Thanks to edupression, I can also get a good picture in the time between therapy sessions.

Dr Beth Murphy

Psychiatrist

My patients love edupression.

edupression offers my patients top-class content – exciting, informative and evidence-based; they simply love it!

Patient cases

As a cooperation partner of edupression, SERVIER provides helpful information material on digital depression therapy – including several patient cases inspired by practice. The cases are available for download at a central location on the MyServier specialist portal.

About MyServier

References/sources:

* PHQ-9: Patient Health Questionnaire-9
** D-Lit: Depression Literacy Questionnaire

  1. DiGA directory of the BfArM, https://diga.bfarm.de/de/verzeichnis/­01815/fachkreise
  2. S3-Guideline Nationale VersorgungsLeitlinie Unipolare Depression, Version 3.2, 2022, AWMF, Register-Nr. nvl-005
3.
  3. Preiss M, et al. Efficacy and Safety of a Digital Therapeutic for Depression: A Randomised Controlled Trial with Active Sham Control. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5213394
  4. Preiß M, et al. (2023) Randomised controlled clinical trial of the efficacy of the digital self-help program edupression.com® in mild-to-moderate unipolar depressive patients (eFICASY-study). Neuroscience Applied. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nsa.2023.103615
  5. NICE Guideline on the Treatment and Management of Depression in Adults 2022; https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222
  6. Symposium „Affektive Erkrankungen: therapeutische Interventionen“, DGPPN-Congress, 27.11.2024, Berlin