An observational study in Depressive Disorder, Depression - Major Depressive Disorder and Depression in Adolescence, sponsored by Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich. Completed at 1 site in Germany. Open to participants aged 13 Years to 18 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-04.
Sponsored by Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich · Observational
Depression is a common mental disorder among adolescents, with increased rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its high burden, few young people seek professional help due to, among other things, low mental health literacy and fear of stigma. Since most adolescents often seek health information online and use social media daily, the "ich bin alles" (English: "I am everything"; www.ich-bin-alles.de) project was launched to provide accessible, age-appropriate information about depression via a website and social media channels (e.g., Instagram). This study aims to understand how participants perceive and evaluate the social media channel "ich bin alles" (English: "I am everything"; https://www.instagram.com/ich.bin.alles/).
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders worldwide, with a prevalence of approx. 7.5% in youth. In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, a meta-analysis found an increase in clinically relevant depressive symptoms to 25.2% in children and adolescents. At the same time, adolescents who experience mental health crises are reluctant to seek help and only 12% of adolescents with clinically relevant depressive symptoms seek professional treatment. The main barriers for young people to seek professional help include low knowledge of mental disorders/low mental health literacy and social factors such as the fear of stigmatization. Mental health literacy (MHL) is defined as "knowledge of how to prevent mental disorders, recognition of when a disorder is developing, knowledge of help-seeking options and treatment available, knowledge of effective self-help strategies for milder problems, and first aid skills to support others who are affected by mental health problems". It has been found that increased depression literacy can reduce depressive symptoms in adults and improve help-seeking for depression. Stigma in the context of mental health is a multidimensional concept that encompasses several domains. For many people living with mental illness, stigma is a significant contributor to a wide range of negative outcomes, including delayed help-seeking, hopelessness, diminished self-esteem, reduced quality of life and poorer clinical outcomes. Many of these negative effects have also been found in young people with mental health problems. Therefore, improving MHL and reducing the stigmatization of mental illness are two important starting points that can serve as targets for interventions. Improved MHL goes hand in hand with better knowledge about seeking help and less stigmatization of mental illness.
The vast majority of adolescents in western countries, such as the United States and Germany, have access to digital devices, such as smartphones. 97% of young people in the United States (13-17 years) state that they use social media and 45% say that they are online almost all the time. Along with this, young people are more likely to ask health questions, including mental health questions, online than through other channels. However, to date, few digital psychoeducational interventions for depression in adolescents have been developed and evaluated. In order to meet this need for action in a contemporary manner that attracts youth, the web-based project "ich bin alles" (English: "I am everything"; www.ich-bin-alles.de) was launched in September 2021 with an associated social media presence. The "ich bin alles" project provides comprehensive evidence-based and age-appropriate information on depression and mental health in youth via social media (such as Instagram). This strategy of providing information via social media is to be scientifically evaluated in this study.
The aim of this qualitative study is to evaluate the spontaneous thoughts and feelings that young people express while viewing "ich bin alles" Instagram content and to understand how the participants perceive and evaluate it. This will be investigated using the "Thinking Aloud Protocol"- method in 10-20 healthy adolescents and adolescents with current or remitted depression aged 13-18 years. The results of the study can help to gain insight into the perception and acceptance of the content.
4,845 studies on the registry are indexed under Depressive Disorder; 514 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 18 is below the median of 150 across 653 observational studies indexed under Depressive Disorder.
Browse Depressive Disorder studies →Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich is the lead sponsor of 218 studies on the registry; 29 are open to participants now.
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10-20 healthy adolescents and adolescents with current or remitted depression aged 13-18 years
The study population will also be further described using the following questionnaires:
Exclusion Criteria:
The aim is to use a qualitative study design to investigate the spontaneous thoughts and feelings that young people express while viewing "ich bin alles" (English: "I am everything"; https://www.instagram.com/ich.bin.alles/) Instagram content. Purposive sampling is to be used for the study. In the case of this study, the targeted case selection refers to the age range (13-18 years) to be covered so that the study population contains participants from the entire age spectrum. In addition, the depression status (current or remitted depression or healthy) should be taken into account.
Behavioral: "ich bin alles" (English: "I am everything")
The web-based information platform "ich bin alles" (www.ich-bin-alles.de) on depression and mental health in youth as well as its social media channels were developed by the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich Hospital together with the Prof. Otto Beisheim Foundation. It is aimed at youth with depression, healthy youth, and their parents. The project focuses on education, prevention, low-threshold support, and destigmatisation through the transfer of evidence-based knowledge and hands-on supportive materials. Information material on Instagram is posted four times a week in the form of a post, a longer explanatory video and two reels (i.e., short videos with overlays of text and music; https://www.instagram.com/ich.bin.alles/). All content is evidence-based information created by the research team and is primarily based on the "ich bin alles" page.
spontaneous thoughts and feelings
spontaneous thoughts and feelings that young people express while viewing "ich bin alles" Instagram content (English: "I am everything"; https://www.instagram.com/ich.bin.alles/)
Time frame: during the 30 minutes in which the young people watch "ich bin alles" (English: "I am everything") content
Acceptance
questions (in form of a Semi-Structured Interview) designed by the investigators based on "the theoretical framework of acceptability"
Time frame: Day 1 (after the Thinking Aloud Protocol)
Plan to share: No — Consider briefly explaining why IPD will not or might not be shared. The data collected in this study include sensitive details about participants, such as various sociodemographic characteristics and information about mental health status. Publicly sharing the raw dataset could risk revealing individual identities, thereby violating ethical standards related to participant confidentiality. As a result, the raw data will not be publicly released. However, detailed descriptions of the methodology, materials used, and sample characteristics will be provided within the article and supplementary materials. The intervention is also publicly accessible in German on the "ich bin alles" - Instagram channel. Aggregated data and additional supporting materials may be shared upon request (contact: sara.kaubisch@med.uni-muenchen.de).
This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich