Local high school students measurably reduced their feelings of depression last year after using interactive "wellness" software developed at Stanford University.

Now, a Los Altos start-up company, Thrive Research, is hoping to make similar software available on a larger scale, packaged with a social-networking component.

The online, interactive programs, developed in collaboration with Stanford's Laboratory for the Study of Behavioral Medicine, address teen concerns such as depression risks, nutrition and fitness, body image and stress.

The for-profit Thrive Research plans to sell the software to public and private schools to deliver tailored, interactive wellness curricula on a large scale.

Researchers declined to identify the Santa Clara County public high school where the software was piloted last year, although it was not in Palo Alto. The software also was tested in Stanford freshman dorms and will continue to be offered there this fall, said Craig Barr Taylor, a Stanford professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

The curriculum first walks a student through a general wellness orientation and then, based on responses, creates a "personal growth profile," according to Thrive executives.

"It is interactive, multi-session -- a session a week," said CEO Jonathan Golding. "You get content and you log your behavioral change."

The software tracks students' progress in nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, mood and social connections and provides a "Health Risk Assessment" in areas such as depression, eating disorder, sleep disturbance, alcohol and fitness.

The program encourages students to question their negative thoughts and try to replace them with more realistic and helpful ones.

"Questioning your negative thoughts is not the same as positive thinking. We are not just asking you to think about sunny beaches or golden retriever puppies. This is a bit harder.

"We are asking you to consider the negative thoughts you have about yourself and challenge them each time they come up in order to develop a more balanced and accurate perspective."

On another page, students are asked to "notice which feelings you deal with well and which ones are hard for you to express or to cope with. Which strategies work for which emotions?"

It then asks students to post to a discussion board "about the strategies you use for specific emotions," possibly generating an anonymous discussion among students.

While the pilot software has led to improved mood and changed behavior in students, Golding and Taylor said they make no claim to know how to prevent suicide -- an indirect reference to two student suicides at Gunn High School in May and June.

In June the Palo Alto school district's director of student services told community members that a growing number of local students are being identified as emotionally disturbed, anxious and depressed.

"We're seeing more social-emotional issues with our students than we've seen in a long time," Carol Zepecki said at the time.

The school district has an ongoing committee looking at "best practices" in student social and emotional health and is actively reviewing its programs, Zepecki said. She could not be reached for comment this week.

Constantly under improvement, the software in the future will become simpler in some ways and move toward the lessons of "positive psychology," Taylor said.

"We want ... to use the Internet to go a step beyond what we've traditionally done in health education and psycho-educational programs," he said.

Thrive's board of directors includes 3Com President and COO Ron Sege and Peter Hero, former president and CEO of Community Foundation Silicon Valley.

It is an early-stage start-up seeking $2.5 million to $3 million in venture funding. Business development officer Mache Creeger said Thrive Research has generated "significant interest from local institutions waiting to see our final-release product," which is due out early next month.