Human therapists can now treat only a fraction of the people suffering from depression, researcher John Greist said.

Computerized therapy may one day help about one-third of people with depression if further research bears out its promise, said Greist, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin.

The two treated groups followed a six-week course of weekly cognitive-behavioral therapy. This approach aims to correct harmful patterns in how people interpret their experiences, such as in people who habitually perceive slights and conclude that they must be unliked and worthless.