Phone App Reduces Suicide Among High-Risk Patients

Key TakeawaysAn experimental app can help reduce risk of death among people at high risk of suicideThe app reduced suicide attempts by 58% among recently discharged high-risk psychiatric patients The app provides suicide-specific lessons in managing emotions and reconsidering harmful thoughts.WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A mobile smartphone app can help reduce the risk of death among people at high risk for suicide, a new study says.The app, called OTX-202, reduced suicide attempts by 58% among a large group of recently discharged psychiatric patients who had previously attempted suicide, researchers reported Aug. 8 in JAMA Network Open.App users also experienced sustained reductions in their suicidal thoughts for close to six months after their psychiatric hospitalization, researchers said.The app could potentially help fill the gap left by a shortage of therapists available to help troubled individuals manage suicidal thoughts, researchers said.This is particularly important during the high-risk period after a psychiatric patient has been discharged from the hospital, said co-lead researcher Craig Bryan, director of the Suicide Prevention Program at Ohio State University in Columbus.“Although suicide-specific therapy is highly effective for reducing suicidal thoughts and urges, finding therapists who know how to do this life-saving therapy after leaving the hospital can be challenging,” Bryan said in a news release. “OTX-202 provides a possible solution to that problem.”OTX-202 offers a series of 12 lessons each 10 to 15 minutes long providing specific cognitive-behavioral therapy for suicide prevention.For example, the first lesson teaches how to restrict access to potentially lethal means of suicide and how to identify suicidal thoughts and behaviors, the study says. Later lessons teach better ways to regulate emotions and reconsider thoughts of self-harm.These lessons are delivered through a chatbot, narration videos and actor portrayals of actual patients who have completed the treatment, researchers said.To test the app, researchers recruited 339 psychiatric inpatients being discharged from six hospitals across the U.S. between April 2022 and April 2024. All of the patients had been admitted with elevated suicide risk.They were randomly assigned to use either the OTX-202 app or another more standard app that delivered safety planning and suicide education, but no cognitive-behavioral training for managing emotions or reconsidering negative or harmful thoughts.“The weeks and months following a suicide crisis and discharge from a hospital are among the highest risk periods for suicide attempts and [death rates], making it imperative to offer effective, suicide-specific interventions during this vulnerable window,” co-lead researcher Patricia Simon said in a news release. She’s an assistant professor adjunct of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.Patients given the OTX-202 app were significantly more likely to show clinical improvement regarding suicidal thoughts and behaviors, with 98% showing progress compared to 88% of those given the other app, results show.OTX-202 patients also experienced a sustained reduction in suicidal thoughts, while those with the standard app had a rebound in their suicidal thoughts within six months of their discharge, the study says.“Patients and those who care for them do not have access to reliable and effective tools and resources to reduce future suicide risk. This population faces arguably the biggest gap in access to effective interventions of any leading killer. The potential clinical and population health impact of this new option is extraordinary,” senior researcher Dr. Seth Feuerstein, a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, said in a news release.However, researchers said the app needs additional study involving larger groups of people and longer follow-up periods to validate its effectiveness.The app was developed by Oui Therapeutics, which funded this clinical trial.If you or someone you know is suicidal, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or go to 988lifeline.org.More informationThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on suicide prevention.SOURCES: Ohio State University, news release, Aug. 8, 2025; JAMA Network Open, Aug. 8, 2025 .What This Means For YouSmartphone apps might be able to help people manage suicidal thoughts..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Phone App Reduces Suicide Among High-Risk Patients

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