RESEARCH

My current DPsych research concerns the use of smartphone apps for mental health purposes. I am part of the team developing mood tracking app MoodPrism, and I will be investigating the mental health outcomes of using this app over a 30 day period. Outcome areas include anxiety and depression symptomatology, emotional self-awareness, coping self-efficacy, mental health literacy, and other measures related to mental health and well-being.

I am currently developing another app, MoodMission, which aims to use CBT-based techniques to help users learn more effective ways to deal with low moods and anxious feelings. Public release of MoodMission on the iOS App Store is scheduled for April 2016.

My honours research focussed on music and emotion, using event-related potentials (ERPs) derived from electroencephalography recordings to quantify facilitation of emotional processing. One of the two experiments conducted as part of my honours thesis was published in Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience (see below).

Publications

First Author

Bakker, D., & Rickard, N. (2019). Engagement with a cognitive behavioural therapy mobile phone app predicts changes in mental health and wellbeing: MoodMission. Australian Psychologist, 54, 245-260. https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12383

Bakker, D., Kazantzis, N., Rickwood, D., & Rickard, N. (2018). A randomized controlled trial of three smartphone apps for enhancing public mental health. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 109, 76-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2018.08.003

Bakker, D., Kazantzis, N., Rickwood, D., & Rickard, N. (2018). Development and Pilot Evaluation of Smartphone-Delivered Cognitive Behavior Therapy Strategies for Mood- and Anxiety-Related Problems: MoodMission. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2018.07.002

Bakker, D., & Rickard, N. (2017). Engagement in mobile phone app for self-monitoring of emotional wellbeing predicts changes in mental health: MoodPrism. Journal of Affective Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.11.016

Bakker, D., Kazantzis, N., Rickwood, D., & Rickard, N. (2016). Mental health smartphone apps: Review and evidence-based recommendations. JMIR Mental Health, 3, e7. https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.4984

Bakker, D. R., & Martin, F. H. (2015). Musical chords and emotion: Major and minor triads are processed for emotion. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 15, 15-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13415-014-0309-4

Supporting Author

Rickard N., Arjmand H. A., Bakker D., & Seabrook E. (2016). Development of a Mobile Phone App to Support Self-Monitoring of Emotional Well-Being: A Mental Health Digital Innovation. JMIR Ment Health, 3, e49. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mental.6202

My ORCID: 0000-0002-0343-1100