Online mental health intervention improves anxiety in isolated scleroderma patients during the pandemic People with a rare autoimmune disease, who likely experience more serious isolation during a global pandemic, saw their anxiety and depression improve after receiving online mental health intervention through an international study involving investigators from Michigan Medicine. The paper, published in the Lancet Rheumatology, analyzed the mental health progress of over 150 people with scleroderma, a disease that causes tightening of the skin and connective tissues. Researchers randomized patients to either receive video support intervention or be put on a waitlist, finding mental health outcomes improved after the program finished.