Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of depression-related phenomena

•EMA is an increasingly used research method in the study of depression and related phenomena.•EMA is well suited to the study of dynamic processes such as affect, activity level, and sleep.•EMA provides unique insight into hard-to-study behaviors such as self-harm and suicide.•EMA also yields data relevant to the implementation of psychotherapeutic interventions.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is one research method increasingly employed to better understand the processes that underpin depression and related phenomena. In particular, EMA is well suited to the study of affect (e.g., positive and negative affect), affective responses to stress (e.g., emotion reactivity), and behaviors (e.g., activity level, sleep) that are associated with depression. Additionally, EMA can provide insights into self-harm behavior (i.e., suicide and non-suicidal self-injury), and other mood disorders (e.g., bipolar disorder) commonly associated with depressive episodes. Given the increasing availability and affordability of handheld computing devices such as smartphones, EMA is likely to play an increasingly important role in the study of depression and related phenomena in the future.