Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Hadar Fisher

Christian Webb, PhD @christianwebb.bsky.social · 26d

📱EMA is increasingly used in intervention studies to acquire a more fine-grained and ecologically valid assessment of change. But EMA is relatively burdensome. What's the added value? We tried to address this question in our new paper now out @jmirpub.bsky.social www.jmir.org/2025/1/e69297 1/n

Ecological Momentary Assessment as a Measure of Intervention Change: Evaluation in 4 Digital Mental Health Trials

Background: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is increasingly being incorporated into intervention studies to acquire a more fine-grained and ecologically valid assessment of change. The added uti...

www.jmir.org

1 14 44

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

My hope is that, with the right boundaries, knowledge, and caution, and with the incredible work of so many researchers in the field, AI can advance our long-standing efforts to close the urgent gap in mental health access.

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

I argue that we can’t stop this train, but as clinicians and researchers, we can and *should* shape its track. Rather than resist change, we should be more active in guiding it, wisely, ethically, and collaboratively (with the developers and the users).

1

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

In this letter, I respond to Ziv Ben-Zion’s important World View column, which recommended ways to stop, or at least slow down, the use of AI (such as ChatGPT) for emotional support.
👉Ben Zion’s world View column: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Why we need mandatory safeguards for emotionally responsive AI

Virtual chatbots that simulate conversations with famous actors or sci-fi characters can have real-world consequences.

www.nature.com

1

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

My correspondence on emotionally responsive AI is now published in Nature (!)
I’m thankful for the opportunity to share this little drop of thought. 🌱
👉 Read the full correspondence here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Emotional AI is here — let’s shape it, not shun it

Letter to the Editor

www.nature.com

1 1

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Aug 19

Thanks so much for tagging me, Christian! This sounds like an absolutely amazing dataset. @eikofried.bsky.social I’m traveling now with little reception (and lots of kids’ noise 😅), but once I’m somewhere quiet I’ll send an email with my thoughts on de-identification and some collab suggestions.

1 2

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Jul 17

How emotions unfold over time, their flexibility and adaptability, may be just as important as what people feel for understanding depression vulnerability.
This opens new doors for early identification and prevention.

1

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Jul 17

📉 The results: Participants with more rigid emotional systems were significantly more likely to develop depressive symptoms later, even after controlling for risk factors, sex, emotional intensity, and variability.

This was specific to depression! Emotion rigidity didn't predict anxiety symptoms.

1 1

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Jul 17

We followed adolescents without depression and had them report emotions 4x daily for a month. Then we tracked depressive symptoms for 2 years.
We used dynamic systems methods to build individual emotion networks and calculated emotional rigidity (how densely interconnected emotional states were).

1 1

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Jul 17

We know that emotions help us make sense of the world, guide decisions, and navigate (social) life. But what happens when emotions become too rigid to flexibly adapting to changes?
In this study, we asked whether emotion rigidity might precede and predict the onset of depressive symptoms.

1 1

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Jul 17

🚨New paper on emotion rigidity as a risk factor for future depression out in BRAT!
Thank you to @christianwebb.bsky.social @diegopizzagalli.bsky.social and the awesome teddylab team @nigeljaffe.bsky.social, KristinaPidvirny, and Anna Tierney 🙌

Free 50d access: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lRqe1KMdl...

authors.elsevier.com

1 4 9

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Jul 3

Check out our thoughts on the growing use of passive sensing for digital phenotyping. In this commentary, we reflect on excellent work by @whitneyringwald.bsky.social et al., who use a large, clinically heterogeneous sample to examine assoc. bw passive sensing and domains of psychopathology.

Christian Webb, PhD @christianwebb.bsky.social · Jul 3

🧠📱Excited to share our invited commentary in @jamanetworkopen.com on the promise and pitfalls of using smartphones (and wearables) to track psychopathology w/
@hadarfisher.bsky.social and linked to excellent paper by
@whitneyringwald.bsky.social, @aidangcw.bsky.social & team. tinyurl.com/5n8z4r6e

Tracking Psychopathology Dimensions Through Passive Smartphone Sensing

Mental health researchers are increasingly using passively collected data from smartphones and wearable devices (eg, smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart rings) to continuously and unobtrusively ...

tinyurl.com

3 11

Hadar Fisher @hadarfisher.bsky.social · Jun 27

📣 Curious about how to measure and work with emotions in therapy? Join us for the panel Emotional Processes in Psychotherapy: Breaking New Ground, today at 11:30 in Aula A (LB). New tools, task-based methods, and fresh data on emotional change. #SPRKrakow2025

5