“Online self-help as solution for waiting lists in Mental Healthcare?"

"Online you often heal faster than the waiting time on a waiting list"

These are the results from a large clinical study by Paul Koeck, MD, regarding the evolution of 1056 patients with burnout, stress, anxiety, depression, or hyperventilation, who used the online self-help program '15Minutes4Me.com' for fifteen minutes every day.

Clinical study

The average participant from the self-help program '15Minutes4Me.com' has a stress reduction of over 50% within two to three weeks, while the scores at the weekly test which reach normal levels again within the same period, which mirrors the clinical 'healing' of their symptoms. This is a condition for the quick solution or prevention of burnout!

Away with long waiting lists?

This is a hint that most stress sufferers or people with severe issues can find good immediate care in internet self-help, because this time which is lost between knowing that help is needed and finding a good healthcare provider tends to take more than 3 weeks. Many centers for Mental Health have waiting lists of several months. People lose valuable time this way - sometimes even their job, health, or relationship - while proper self-help is only one click away nowadays.

Paul Koeck, MD: “More than half of our participants are cured with self-help more quickly than the time which passes looking for a first meeting with a professional healthcare provider. It is unfortunate that many thousands of patients are on long waiting lists without even knowing that this solution exists."

How does internet therapy work?

First, the participants take the free self-test at www.15Minutes4Me.com. After that they can decide if they like this self-help, and sign up online. Several seconds after signing up and paying, their self-therapy starts. Every day they are invited per email to partake in fifteen minutes of online self-help, until they are cured. They can invite a buddy from their environment to be of help to them in the program. This person is then guided by the program in how to support in a better way. This program delivers a weekly evolution report to the doctor of the participant. This doctor can then, in discussion with he patient, follow-up to see if this type of online self-help is enough, or if it should possibly be supplemented with medication, psychotherapy, or other types of treatment. Some of the participants from this study were sent by their doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist, while others found the program themselves on Google or via friends, or thanks to worried family members. The online self-help program '15Minutes4Me.com' is a private initiative from own (Flemish) soil and was developed without subsidies, with the help of an international team of doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. It is a supplement to traditional medical treatment, rather than a substitute.

Paul Koeck, MD: “To my own surprise, the participants of this internet program experience it as a very personal moment. A participant wrote to me during the program: 'I told my doctor that I feel like I am finally taking matters into my own hands and that I am working on myself. Every day I lock myself away with my daily fifteen minutes of self-reflection. Those are '15 Minutes 4 Me', for myself.'"

This study was proposed on Tuesday the 16th of September 2014 on the 7th demi-annual "Flemish Mental Health Congress", organized by the "Flemish Association for Psychiatry".

More information for the press:

Stressvermindering tijdens Zelfhulpprogramma MijnKwartier The limit of >50% stress reduction within 3 weeks for the average participant hangs together with reaching the normal scores (green zones) at the stress test of www.15Minutes4Me.com.totalDassScoresDuringMijnKwartier-stressfreeBelow the value 30, the normal value of the DASS test score starts.RelativeStressDecline-MijnkwartierThe relative stress reduction per participant in comparison with their scores at the start of the self-help program www.15Minutes4Me.com.

Testimonial by Eric Boydens, MD, on the online self-help program

15Minutes4Me.com.

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Interview with Paul Koeck, MD on TV OOST on the self-help program 15Minutes4Me.com

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Press photos

PaulKoeck-MK-Persfoto-2014 Photo of Paul Koeck, MD, by Katie Lagast PaulKoeck-Pers-PasFoto-2014 Photo of Paul Koeck, MD, by Katie Lagast
Een Kwartiertje per dag voor jezelf Photo of Paul Koeck, MD. © Paul Koeck Een Kwartiertje per dag voor jezelf Photo of Paul Koeck, MD. © Paul Koeck
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