The global healthcare burden of depression is on course to outpace that of any other medical issue by the year 2030, according to the World Health Organization. In the search to understand why and find new and innovative solutions, one answer has, strikingly, emerged as both a cause of this crisis and part of the solution: technology. In recent years, studies exploring whether technology is to blame for mental health issues have:
- linked higher amounts of screen time to poorer mental health
- noted how blue light from cell phones cause sleep problems (frequently a signal of mental health issues like depression)
- and found an association between social media use, self-harm, and suicide in young people.
As dire as these and other findings may be, they don’t eclipse the many positive ways in which technology is also being harnessed to help people with mental health issues. While the field is rapidly changing all the time, here are five examples of these trending technologies.
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Neurostimulation Technologies
Neurostimulation technologies work to relieve symptoms and restore mental health by delivering a type of low-level, electrical current to the brain. These brain technologies have been in use in Europe for a while now and in the U.S. are generating interest from research institutions like Stanford. (A February 2022 report shared promising results from a study of Stanford’s version of “repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.”)
For now, only a handful of providers in the U.S. offer neurostimulation as a treatment. According to one of them, the national behavioral health provider FHE Health, there are multiple types of neurostimulation. Determining which to use can depend on what a map of the brain (called an “EEG”) reveals about areas of dysfunction.
Video Games
Video games may be exasperating for parents with teens, but for some people with mental health issues—both young and old—playing a video game may be “just what the doctor ordered.” Biofeedback, which pairs video games with body sensors to optimize mind-body responses to stimuli—has been a treatment for ADD/ADHD for quite some time. (Biofeedback is also evolving to address a wider range of mental health needs, through a specialized form called “neurofeedback.”)
Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality technologies, which create an interactive world that can seem more real than a video game, have reportedly helped relieve mental health symptoms like anxiety. Because of its immersive, interactive features, VR can work a bit like exposure therapy for some people. Someone struggling with anxiety, depression, and related performance anxiety can go to work within the safety of their VR headset and practice interacting with coworkers. It’s like a dry run, one that is more real and interactive than practicing in front of the mirror.
Chatbot Therapy
The concept of seeing a bot shrink may sound absurd, but a growing body of research seems to favor the concept—or something similar. One popular example of these conversational software programs (a.k.a. chatbot therapists) is Woebot. Its makers describe it as “an automated conversational agent who helps you monitor mood and learn about yourself.” The program integrates tools from cognitive-behavioral therapy to help users manage symptoms like anxiety and depression.
Smartphone Apps
Woebot is one of many AI-powered mental health technologies now emerging in a
field where innovation has arguably just begun. Take, for instance, the proliferation of Smartphone apps that now purportedly can address a wide range of mental and behavioral health issues:
- Using AI, some apps can detect whether someone may be in distress, by analyzing their voice and language patterns.
- Passive symptom tracking apps can monitor various indicators of mental health and provide alerts.
- Wyssa is a “mood tracker, mindfulness coach, anxiety helper, and mood-boosting buddy, all rolled into one.”
Some of these technologies can sound almost too good to be true, and the full extent of their impact remains to be seen. When combined with effective strategies for reducing the negative mental health effects of technology, though, these five innovations—and those yet to come—could revolutionize mental and behavioral healthcare.
