PM at G8 Dementia Summit welcomes work by PsychologyOnline

When Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at the G8 Dementia Summit recently about the global challenge of dementia he also talked of seeing a glimmer of hope in tackling this condition.

He said: “It doesn’t matter whether you’re in London or Los Angeles, in rural India or urban Japan - this disease steals lives; it wrecks families; it breaks hearts and that is why all of us here are so utterly determined to beat it.”

He talked of the hope of creating a treatment and also of progress in developing for tools for early detection.

“I see it in the extraordinary work of UK life sciences companies, like Ixico, Cambridge Cognition, PsychologyOnline and Proteome Sciences, working with others to develop new tests for Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Barnaby Perks, CEO of PsychologyOnline welcomed this high profile support for work in this area.

“The NHS is one of the most respected health institutions in the world.  If it is prepared to be a ‘smart purchaser’ and work with innovative companies such as those mentioned in David Cameron’s speech then this will fast track developments in this area.”

PsychologyOnline provides text-based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to treat anxiety and depression, conditions that are common in dementia sufferers and their carers.

CBT is used widely in NHS mental health services, as a NICE-recommended treatment.  The therapy aims to help people manage their problems by changing the way they think and feel about certain situations or events.  Such is the demand for this type of therapy that there can often be a long wait to see a therapist.

One of the reasons, PsychologyOnline was developed originally by two NHS psychologists was to enable more effective use of resources. It provides instant-messaging based CBT with a therapist via a secure internet consulting room, so neither the therapist or the service user needs to travel.

Barnaby says results for the treatment of depression and other conditions are very promising, with patients needing 40% fewer sessions than would be expected with face-to-face therapy to recover.

“From our work with the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in Surrey, where we provide therapy on prescription, we’ve seen that people of all ages are prepared to use the internet to access treatment.  The ability to have therapy in your own home makes it particularly suitable for those who find it difficult to travel for appointments or who already spend too much of their time waiting in hospitals.

“We are currently provide an accessible treatment path for carers of people with dementia and other diseases, who would not otherwise find time to focus on their own health. We also see considerable potential for CBT delivered in this way to support people in the early stages of dementia and are working with experts in this field to explore this further.

“If the NHS was to commission a study in this area then we would be able to devote more resource to this area of research. This type of support would lend further credibility to this approach and support early adoption of beneficial treatment. “

PsychologyOnline one of Observer's 16 leading Tech Start-Ups

PsychologyOnline has been identified as one of Cambridge’s 16 leading technology-based startups in the Observer’s Tech Monthly supplement.

Cambridge is a world-leading centre for the development of technology and life science firms; the city has long been accepted as a hub for pioneering new companies and a place where brilliant academic minds can turn their innovative ideas into reality. PsychologyOnline is located on the outskirts of the city to tap into networks of existing expertise as Barnaby Perks, chief executive at PsychologyOnline, explains:

“Cambridge has the right environment and support networks, including lawyers, accountants and non-executive directors. When I looked at the skills we needed, the software development skills, the clinical management skills, here was the best place and all the best people were here."

Other firms featured in the article include Crowdsurfer, a website which allows users to search for alternative finance options such as peer-to-peer lending and Darktrace, a cyber security firm launched this year which provides technology to companies to allow them to monitor threats to their computer networks.

PsychologyOnline was co-founded in 2011 by Barnaby Perks and two chartered psychologists, Sue Wright and Nadine Field. Having worked in the NHS in England and witnessed first hand the scarcity of therapists, they started the company in a bid to make top quality cognitive behavioural therapy easily accessible to all.

Therapy from PsychologyOnline is available on the NHS across Surrey and to private individuals across the UK and overseas via Thinkwell. It helps people suffering from a wide range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, phobia and stress-related problems.

PsychologyOnline’s in house developers have created a secure messaging system to allow service users and therapists to write short, confidential messages to each other during sessions, which last up to an hour at a time. All users need is a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone and a stable internet connection.

"This way patients are comfortable,” Barnaby explains. “They can have therapy at home at a time that suits them. The results show the system has higher recovery rates and takes fewer sessions than face-to-face therapy for patients to get better.”

You can read more about the 16 leading Cambridge tech startups here and for more information on PsychologyOnline, please visit our website: www.psychologyonline.co.uk.