The world is becoming aware of various mentalities. Depression, anxiety, stress, and burnout are gaining much-needed recognition day by day. There are numerous stigmas revolving around these illnesses. These stigmas are irradiating with the rise in awareness.
Various coping mechanisms can help you fight different mental health illnesses. It is essential to maintain our mental health before a disorder comes to grasp us. We can use these mechanisms to keep our mental health in check. Each mechanism uses different types of tools to help patients heal. One such tool is technology. Technology has entered all spheres of the world. It has entered into the mental health domain as well. Did you know- an average person spends almost 4 hours on his phone? So, is there a way in which we could utilize these 4 hours to benefit our mental health? Here are a few developing Tech innovations that can reshape our mind’s health.
Emerging mental-health apps:
Keeping track of your mental health is extremely difficult in these hectic times. We often overlook our emotions and skip our routine self-care activities. How do we find the time to improve our condition?
The answer is not quite complicated; it is just three alphabets put up together- app. We use different apps in our day-to-day life. We can easily order essentials and groceries, buy clothes, purchase electronics, and even connect with our friends who, reside across the seven seas. Now, we can use various apps to assess, support, regulate, and continuously monitor our mental health.
How do these apps work?
All the mhealth apps contain various features that help us regulate integrants that affect our mental health. These integrants are our mind, sleep, moods, external triggers, and stress levels. Features in these apps, like meditation music, mood trackers, trigger records, and journals, help us keep our mental health on track. Some of these apps also provide digi-therapy options to users. These apps target multiple psychological disorders. That is why, the apps can be categorized based on their design and functionality. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has classified health apps into six categories. Some famous apps in these categories are:
- Self Management apps: Calm, Moodfit, MoodKit, Headspace.
- Cognition Improvement apps: Stop, Breathe and Think, Insight Timer, 10% Happier.
- Skills-training apps: Daily Yoga, Sololearn, CogniFit.
- Social Support apps: Happify, PTSD coach, Mee Too, Sanvello.
- Symptom Tracking apps: Key Specs, Worry Watch, eMoods Bipolar Mood Tracker.
- Passive Data Collections apps: Shine, Calm Harm, MidShift.
AI-powered therapy chatbots:
AI-powered therapy chatbots, also known as therapy chatbots, are conversational AI therapists that may assist psychotherapists, psychologists, and other healthcare providers. It understands human mental health problems with the help of NLP (Natural Language Processing) by reading our problems first and suggesting some solutions in exchange. These chatbots can provide you with a journaling experience where your journal could give solutions to your problems.
Healthcare practitioners are looking forward to these AI therapists as it can aid them in treating the initial stages of anxiety, depression, PTSD, or other mental health issues. Therapy chatbots can provide- efficient, low-cost, and timely treatment to patients. Other benefits include 24/7 service and customized therapies. Patients who are scared to open up can use these therapies initially.
However, this therapy is advised only for entry-level patients. Its lack of medical ethics and standards, vague rules, and restrictions to detect and reveal a diagnosis are some of its weaknesses that chatbots will have to overcome. These AI therapists cannot diagnose your problems accurately or prescribe medication. These chatbots should be used adjacent to face-to-face therapies and not as a replacement for them. Some popular AI-powered therapy bots are:
1. Woebot
Woebot is an AI platform launched as a digital companion to provide chat-based therapy. This therapy is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which helps users identify and change negative thought patterns.
2. Wysa
Wysa is an AI-based therapy platform used to treat patients with mild symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress. United Kingdom’s National Health Service is using this service to treat depression, anxiety, and stress among teens and young adults, including patients stuck on the waitlist. The platform also provides patients with the option to connect with a human coach or therapist on a one-to-one basis.
Use of games:
People’s mental health has suffered the most after the lockdown. Various external factors like recession, unemployment, and inflation are increasing the adult’s stress levels. Internal factors like loneliness, overthinking, and fear of being alone have made things worse.
Healthcare practitioners are overworking globally to meet mental health requirements. The patient’s reduced attention span and commitment have made things tough even for the therapists. Most of the patients are scared to open their hearts out. These problems are faced by adults and kids alike. Various entrepreneurs have tried to come up with a solution to this problem. One such solution brought therapies and gaming together.
Using games to track, monitor, and regulate mental health has brought an effective and fun manner to manage all your mental health problems. Two popular games released recently are:
1. EndeavorRx
EndeavorRx uses a non-pharmacological approach that is powered by the company’s patented Selective Stimulus Management Engine (SSME) technology. It is a personalized and adaptive app that has become a part of the multimodal treatment of pediatric ADHD.
This game is an FDA-authorized prescription digital therapy. The app aims to reach and support your cognitive process involved in attention function. The game monitors the patient’s progress. It adjusts the difficulty levels and speed based on this progress.
The game is inspired by children’s interest in playing games. The children are treated through this video game. While the game is no different than any other children’s game, an algorithm is working behind the scenes of the game that strengthens the kid’s neural pathways. Racing through worlds and capturing creatures will help kids with attentional control.
2. Evo
Evo is a mental health therapy game that was developed by Akili Interactive Labs. This app offers fun activities on a mobile device that helps older adults deal with depression. The game aims to rebuild adult attention and focus with the help of scientifically constructed play sessions.
Conclusion:
These were the latest upgrades in the world of mental health technology. This technology is reshaping the mental health of numerous teenagers and adults across the globe. Apart from these, many other technologies are being introduced daily. One such interesting use of technology in therapy is the introduction of virtual reality. Patients are given a VR and experience various activities in real-time. This treatment can be given to patients to help them overcome various phobias. The activities are planned and controlled by the therapists themselves.
Tech innovations are helping patients to gain efficient, low-cost, and speedy therapy. This timely treatment will help patients to recover and excel in life.
