@christianwebb
Associate Professor | Harvard Medical School Co-Director | Center for Depression, Anxiety, & Stress Research Director | Treatment & Etiology of Depression in Youth Lab | McLean Hospital | www.WebbsLab.com McGill & UPenn alum | Canadian in Boston
This Deep Dive covers work by @hadarfisher.bsky.social @nigeljaffe.bsky.social @diegopizzagalli.bsky.social @christianwebb.bsky.social exploring whether smartphone passive sensors & LLMs can track activation in adolescents w/ anhedonia receiving behavioral activation therapy
youtu.be/K1Lo50QBcQM?...
Great work on this important meta-analysis Hadar!
I'll be giving a talk in the #CNS2026 Rising Star session on Saturday. Come say hi if you're around!
Two bar graphs compare changes in CES-D scores. Graph A, "Causal forest model," shows SBMT having d=0.07, P=.007, and TAU having d=-0.01, P=.82. Graph B, "Elastic net regression model," shows SBMT having d=0.08, P=.004, and TAU having d=0, P>.99.
Machine learning analyses in the MYRIAD trial found only clinically trivial personalization of school-based mindfulness for adolescent #Depression prevention, underscoring limited differential benefit in universal programs.
ja.ma/4qUhbCL
Podcast cover for JAMA Psychiatry Author Interviews, dated February 18, 19 minutes. Title: Predicting Adolescent Response to School-Based Mindfulness. A blue square displays 'Psyc' and initials 'JN'. A purple play button is at the bottom.
John Torous, MD, speaks with Christian A. Webb, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, about the limits of population-level prediction and the need for more potent and targeted interventions for #YouthMentalHealth.
🎧 Listen now:
ja.ma/3OSGiIw
Thanks Eiko!
Beyond the headline results, we discuss why meaningful personalization proved elusive – and what promising directions may move the field forward – on the @jamapsychiatry.com podcast: 🎙️https://edhub.ama-assn.org/jn-learning/audio-player/19039530
New paper from our team: Can ML identify which adolescents benefit most from school-based mindfulness?
In 8,376 students (MYRIAD trial), models detected statistically significant but clinically negligible differential effects (d ≈ .07–.08).
Precision prevention is hard...
Two bar graphs compare changes in CES-D scores between SBMT and TAU interventions using a causal forest model and an elastic net regression model. The causal forest model shows a d=0.07, P=.007 for SBMT and d=-0.01, P=.82 for TAU.
Machine learning analyses in the MYRIAD trial found only clinically trivial personalization of school-based mindfulness for adolescent #Depression prevention, underscoring limited differential benefit in universal programs.
ja.ma/3OkeH2P
⭐ NEW PAPER ⭐ on a Bayesian approach to sample size calculations for external validation of risk prediction models - account for uncertainty in the assumed true performance of the model - plus calculate assurance probabilities & the value of information
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Interesting to see how our lab's recruitment sources have shifted over the last 3 years (see plot).
FB/Instagram used to pull 100+ responses/month, now much less productive. Methods like flyers and mailing lists remain steady.
Curious if any other labs are seeing this or have found new methods?
Matthew 25:40-45
“Then he will say to them... ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For... I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
The special issue call for papers is now live on the JCCP website: “Innovations in Digital Phenotyping for Scalable Personalization of Mental Health Care.”
Details and submission information are available here:
www.apa.org/pubs/journal...
🚨 Upcoming JCCP Special Issue: "Innovations in Digital Phenotyping for Scalable Personalization of Mental Health Care" Edited by Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Roee Admon, & me.
🗓 Pre-proposals due March 2, 2026
Will show on JCCP website soon (sharing early for planning)
⬇️ Call for Papers
tinyurl.com/3tkps63c
🚨 Upcoming JCCP Special Issue: "Innovations in Digital Phenotyping for Scalable Personalization of Mental Health Care" Edited by Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Roee Admon, & me.
🗓 Pre-proposals due March 2, 2026
Will show on JCCP website soon (sharing early for planning)
⬇️ Call for Papers
tinyurl.com/3tkps63c
Built a pipeline that automatically runs each morning and pulls new papers + preprints, merges them with CV (recent pubs + grants), and prepares an LLM-ready summary of emerging research directions and relevant funding opportunities.
First pass, please improve.
OSF: lnkd.in/ev3T2ibn
We're hiring! The Computational Clinical Science Lab @ Yale is seeking a full-time lab manager/research coordinator to start in early summer 2026.
For more information about the position and to apply: forms.gle/LtQwVgPUfaGk...
Please share widely & consider applying!
Interested in research on depression in youth? New opening for a full-time research assistant in our lab (webbslab.com) to work on a range of projects focused on the causes & treatment of depression in teens. Come join our growing lab. Please RT and share! Apply⬇️
webbslab.com/job-postings
Fantastic post-bacc opportunity! ⬇️
Interested in research on depression in youth? New opening for a full-time research assistant in our lab (webbslab.com) to work on a range of projects focused on the causes & treatment of depression in teens. Come join our growing lab. Please RT and share! Apply⬇️
webbslab.com/job-postings
Honored to have our work recognized by
@bbrfoundation.bsky.social, alongside many colleagues doing important work in the field.
Lab dinner with the growing team! 🎉 Thrilled to welcome new postdocs Poorvesh Dongre and Francesca Morfini. Very grateful to work with this brilliant and dedicated group every day.
Join us next week at the Technology in Psychiatry Summit #TIPS2025! Dec 11–12 | Virtual | 11AM–5PM ET
💡 Topics:
• AI-driven mental health apps
• LLMs in dementia caregiving
• Digital Navigators bridging tech + care
• AI for eating-disorder treatment
...& much more
🔗 tips.societyconference.com/v2/
Great work on this meta-analysis Hadar!
💫 Excited to share new preprint a systematic review & meta-analysis of 123 studies (40k+ ppl) on how well language-based models detect depression from text.
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8...
Yes I serve on a study section that was supposed to meet late October and is now rescheduled for mid December
Join us at the Technology in Psychiatry Summit (TIPS) #TIPS2025! Dec 11–12 | Virtual | 11 AM–5 PM ET
💡 Topics:
• AI-driven mental health apps
• LLMs in dementia caregiving
• Digital Navigators bridging tech + care
• AI for eating-disorder treatment
...& much more
🔗 tips.societyconference.com/v2/
Check out this write-up of a recent DPN article from @bbrfoundation.bsky.social highlighting BBRF awardees @christianwebb.bsky.social, @erika-forbes.bsky.social, and @diegopizzagalli.bsky.social. Congrats!
bbrfoundation.org/content/smar...
Thanks to @bbrfoundation.bsky.social for highlighting our lab's study (led by @hadarfisher.bsky.social & @nigeljaffe.bsky.social) using📱smartphone sensors + LLM-derived text ratings to track behavioral activation and symptom change in teens with anhedonia.
bbrfoundation.org/content/smar...
📢 New large study of ~1.5 million patients in NHS Talking Therapies finds that teens/young adults (ages 16-24) had 17-26% *lower* odds of reliably improving vs 25-65 year-olds. Time to rethink youth-centred mental-health delivery?
🔗 tinyurl.com/532y6v67