Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article

Front. Digit. Health

Sec. Digital Mental Health

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1568472

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Digital Mental Health for YouthView all 8 articles

Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Personalised Prevention in Youth Mental Health

Provisionally accepted
Johanna  LöchnerJohanna Löchner1*Mariana  BolivarMariana Bolivar2Lesley  BoothLesley Booth2Sara  CanellaSara Canella3Michele  CalabroMichele Calabro4Joseph  FirthJoseph Firth5Azucena  Garcia-PalaciosAzucena Garcia-Palacios6Aleksandra  KyritsakaAleksandra Kyritsaka7Lasse  B. SanderLasse B. Sander8Caroline  SeiferthCaroline Seiferth9Lennart  SeizerLennart Seizer1Maree  TeessonMaree Teesson10Joanna  TyrowiczJoanna Tyrowicz11Lea  VogelLea Vogel12Emily  WheelerEmily Wheeler2Jörg  WolsteinJörg Wolstein13Björn  Wolfgang SchullerBjörn Wolfgang Schuller14,15
  • 1University of Erlangen Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
  • 2MQ Mental Health Research, London, United Kingdom
  • 3Nero su Bianco, Mantova, Italy
  • 4Euregha, Brussels, Belgium
  • 5Manchester University, North Manchester, Indiana, United States
  • 6University of Jaume I, Castelló de La Plana, Valencian Community, Spain
  • 7Institute of Entrepreneurship Development, Athens, Greece
  • 8University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
  • 9Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 10Matilda Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
  • 11University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Masovian, Poland
  • 12Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Bavaria, Germany
  • 13University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
  • 14Imperial College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 15Technical University of Munich, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The pervasive impact of mental illnesses extends beyond individual suffering, affecting families, communities, and societies at large. Prevention efforts are imperative to mitigate this burden, promoting well-being and resilience across diverse populations. A particularly vulnerable period is adolescence, which is associated with numerous mental health issues that are exacerbated by declining healthy behaviours as well as socioeconomic inequalities. But adolescence also presents an opportune moment for early intervention. However, recognising warning signs and providing timely support involves considerable hurdles, so innovative prevention measures are needed. Advancements in AI, particularly in emotion recognition, offer promise for early mental health intervention. Yet, current AI achievements fall short in addressing the mental healthcare gap. This vision paper seeks to outline future directions and recommendations for effective preventive approaches by integrating experts of the necessary multidisciplinary field to develop, evaluate and implement novel and promising prevention approaches. Therefore, representatives based in Europe from diverse fields such as clinical psychology, computer science, physical activity, nutrition, economics, entrepreneurship, politics, and digital innovation propose potential avenues to integrate efficient treatment, AI methodology, and comprehensive implementation strategies that align with user needs. Based on a literature review and expert consensus, key ingredients suggested for effective preventive measures for mental health include holistic, individualised, AI-based mHealth interventions, leveraging smart and passive data from digital biomarkers for monitoring and feedback, evaluating cost-effectiveness, conducting participatory research to ensure user acceptance, and identifying barriers and facilitators for integration into regular healthcare systems. By utilising AI-driven interventions for adolescents, we can address the urgent need for preventive mental healthcare, ultimately enhancing the well-being of future generations.

Keywords: prevention, Mental Health, artificial intelligence, adolescence, implementation

Received: 29 Jan 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Löchner, Bolivar, Booth, Canella, Calabro, Firth, Garcia-Palacios, Kyritsaka, Sander, Seiferth, Seizer, Teesson, Tyrowicz, Vogel, Wheeler, Wolstein and Schuller. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Johanna Löchner, University of Erlangen Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.