Thursday, February 27, 2003

Using the Internet to Treat Jet Lag A Brief Report in the March 2003 issue of Psychiatric Services discusses the use of the Internet to automate and facilitate treatment. Daniel Z Lieberman, MD of George Washington University conducted a study of 20 participants who followed an automated treatment regimen for jet lag and tracked their treatment via the website.   Although the number in the study is small, Dr. Lieberman points out that “over an eight-month period, more than 4,600 individuals visited the site, which suggests that interest can be generated by simply making a treatment publicly available.”  He avoided the security issues by not asking for any personal information.  He points out that the  project was designed to highlight some of the issues involved in delivering treatment over the Internet. “The management of jet lag was chosen because calculating a complex light-exposure schedule is well suited to a computer” and the risks minimal. Although there are numerous shortcomings in this brief study, the concept is fascinating and clearly others will follow. Dr. Lieberman discussed these findings in a presentation entitled "Internet Treatment of Jet Lag" May 2002 at the American Association of Technology in Psychiatry meeting in Philadelphia. Dr. Lieberman's site. 10:35:31 PM    comment []

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