Smartphone therapy should be offered to children from the age of five

CChildren as young as five years old should be treated for depression with the help of a smartphone therapy, the NHS watchdogs said.

The new board of the National Institute for Health and Care of Excellence (Nice) says that all children and young people with mild depression should be offered a "cognitive-behavioral therapy" – delivered via cell phones and tablets.

The instructions, for identifying and managing depression in children and youth aged 5 to 18, indicate that an online therapy and mindfulness courses should be the first options for treating mild cases.

According to Nice, thanks to these programs, children could access psychological help more quickly, thus avoiding long waiting lists.

According to her indications, group cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness training group sessions were also recommended as first-line treatments.

Nice said that these, as well as digital options, should be offered by general practitioners and other health care professionals if the children had persistent symptoms of mild depression, but had no suicidal thoughts or thoughts. Other important health problems.

Public servants should have the choice between different treatments.

And Nice said that health care professionals working in schools and at the GP should be trained to detect depressive symptoms in children as early as the age of five.

The directions were accelerated amid warnings that the NHS had been left "picking up the pieces" of an epidemic of mental health problems, fueled by social media.