Zainab Bazoun
Pronouns:
Research Mentor(s): Erin Cikanek
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Political Science / LSA
Program: Mellon
Session: Session 7 (4:40pm – 5:30pm)
Authors: Walaa Bazoun, Ahab Chopra
Abstract
This research investigates the role and impact of text-based therapy on the mental health of adolescents. The purpose of this project is to determine if text-based therapy has the capacity to improve or ameliorate mental health in adolescents. While previous research on virtual therapies has demonstrated its basic efficacy, this project seeks to expand our understanding of text-based therapy with respect to the youth population and place it in the context of other more traditional therapies (i.e. CBT, DBT). To conduct this research, databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar were employed to conduct a literature search for recently published peer-reviewed studies. Key words such as “adolescents”, “text-based therapy”, and “adolescents and mental health” were utilized to narrow the search. After an abstract review, the papers were further analyzed to deduce whether they matched the search criteria of the project including location of study and age of particpants included. It was hypothesized that text-based therapy would greatly aid in decreasing the occurrence of mental health crises in adolescents as it is more accessible. The results of the search concluded that text-based therapy can and should be utilized for adolsecent mental health needs. This conclusion invites future reseach to continue exploring the ways in which we can expand and improve therapy treatment options for adolescents.
