Mental Health Technology Innovations – The mental health landscape has welcomed discoveries, startups and experiments that showcase immersive technologies. Research, innovation and campaigns exploring the relationship between advanced technology and mental health will emerge in 2022.
As a result, we have seen complex and constantly evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and games as effective tools to support holistic healthcare. Consumers want access to interventions that are scalable, stigma-free, accessible, and affordable. However, doctors need more time to master new technologies.
Mental Health Technology Innovations
AI-based chatbots that focus on therapeutic and personalized care are becoming increasingly popular. AI-powered tools like voice recognition software Ellipsis listen for signs of emotional distress, while communication agent Woebot helps people talk about difficult situations and uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques.
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Woebot has raised $123.5 million since launching in 2017, and is on track to raise nearly $100 million by 2021. “The exact role of this technology in our current healthcare system is still emerging, but there’s no doubt it will be part of a digital, self-directed tool. A comprehensive mental health care system, More inclusive and preventative,” said Alison Darcy, founder and president of Woebot Health.
There is a growing appetite for digital mental health support through AI-driven methods. Increasingly, technology is playing a complementary role in mental health management and care.
“Traditional care cannot be radically scaled up because it’s really based on the person-to-person relationship,” says Darcy. Using artificial intelligence-driven technology that listens, learns, and provides empathetic mental health care through smart devices can offer the opportunity to make care more accessible and accessible to doctors, patients, and society as a whole.
“While we as a society are more open to mental health than ever before, stigma remains a significant barrier to treatment,” adds Darcy. In this way, innovation removes the human element from communication in order to eliminate fear and provide therapeutic support to people who do not seek help.
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However, concerns about the legality and safety of therapeutic chatbots permeate the medical industry, as the tools are unregulated and largely unapproved.
A combination of face-to-face support and digital support can help solve these problems. Technology can offer potential in a virtual learning scenario, for example.
“We believe artificial intelligence offers incredible opportunities to support people in mental health,” says Dr. Mark Ungels, Director of Data Insights, Mental Health Innovations. “We’re using artificial intelligence to develop a conversation simulator to train volunteers to conduct text-based conversations on Shout.” Launched in 2019, Shout is the UK’s first free 24/7 secret text message support service.
VR is a rapidly developing technology that allows people to move into virtual spaces, interact in “hyper-real” ways, and track user behavior. The technology is developing in the treatment and management of a variety of conditions, including stress, anxiety and pain management, focusing on changing the perception of pain.
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“Virtual reality technology has been used as part of psychotherapy in specialist mental health clinics for over 25 years,” says Dr Elizabeth Murphy, GameChange trial coordinator and clinical research psychologist at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. However, VR in psychotherapy, ” Until recently, it was always small scale because the technology was supported by personal care,” says Murphy.
Access and scalability drove innovation. “While some companies are looking to digital treatments that require a doctor’s prescription for a digital VR app, the greatest potential lies in scalable mental health apps that anyone can access at any time,” Noah says. Robinson, founder and CEO of Innerworld.
In April 2022, a national study in the United Kingdom developed gameChange, which automates psychotherapy for psychosis in a VR environment with an integrated virtual therapist. “VR, which can be conducted in the patient’s home, holds great promise for psychotherapy,” says Murphy. The results showed that the gameChange automated VR treatment significantly reduced participants’ anxiety and distress in everyday social situations.
“We’re still a long way from technology like GameChange becoming the standard in mental health services, but we hope that will change soon,” says Murphy. It is now being implemented to study how it can become part of routine clinical services.
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“Most VR mental health interventions currently focus on exposure therapy,” says Noah Robinson, founder and CEO of Innerworld. However, the founder believes “the greatest potential lies in social VR, or metaverse, because it’s the most interpersonal and anonymous technology.” .
Designed to leverage immersive social presence and anonymity for virtual reality, Innerworld is now offering a randomized control trial to determine whether more expensive virtual reality headsets are necessary or whether the metaverse experience can be delivered just as effectively via flat screens. If so, researchers can expand these interventions to reach people on their own devices. “My suspicion is that the immersive nature of VR technology provides additional benefits,” says Robinson.
Advances in VR could automate the diagnosis of mental states using basic biometric data that can be collected, such as movement, reaction time, eye tracking and voice analysis, Robinson says. Data can be used to diagnose and personalize mental health interventions.
“As we generate evidence about the effectiveness of VR interventions in mental health, we can provide that data to help payers and employers subsidize the cost of immersive technologies and interventions,” says Robinson.
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Understanding mental health remains a priority. VR capabilities offer the potential to co-design experiences and interventions with mental health professionals to tailor care and management. In October 2022, the University of York created a virtual reality choir to understand the health and wellbeing benefits of virtual singing. “VR is an amazing tool,” says Dr Helena Daffren, Professor at the AudioLab at the University of York.
Researchers can observe users through their virtual choir and better understand how people react both practically and emotionally, which informed the next steps in the development and design of the technology. In the future, there are opportunities to “explore ways to develop technology to understand more about the user in a broader diagnostic framework,” says Daffren.
Education and fun, or entertainment, come together in game apps for mental health. “Gaming is the largest sector of the entertainment industry and gamers are raising more and more money for charity by playing,” says Jen Bott, Senior Fundraising Manager for Help for Heroes. Gaming and mental health company DeepWell Digital Therapeutics set out in March 2022 to launch a game that combines entertainment with accelerated healing.
“Video games are unfortunately underrepresented in the mental health landscape,” says developer and lead researcher Dr. Darren Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Swansea University. After learning that around 50% of Europeans play video games, Swansea University researchers developed ACTing Minds in 2022 to to close this gap.
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The innovation is based on the gamification and adoption of mental health interventions and integrated learning to deliver education in a fun and engaging way through commitment therapy (ACT). This consists of teaching users positive behaviors appropriate to ACT, such as value formation, orientation, and acceptance rather than avoidance.
“Video games have the potential to play an important role in supporting mental health education,” adds Edwards. Qualitative data from interviews indicate that psychoeducation has potential and complements existing therapeutic work.
Recent data reveals the importance of digital tools in short-term support for Gen Z men. Organizations are turning to gaming to help increase their engagement with younger gaming audiences.
In November 2022, veteran Paul Colling completed support for Heroes’ Hero Up 11.11. The fundraiser, which saw Paul raise almost £10,000, combines the games with mental health awareness and support. “The games have a positive effect on me, they take away some of the pain,” says Kolling. “Many of the veterans we’ve supported at Help for Heroes have shared how games have been an important part of their lives when used properly,” adds Bott.
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With healthcare systems overburdened post-Covid, research and companies are exploring how advanced technology can respond to today’s mental health landscape.
However, while the need for better understanding, informed care, and support is growing, questions remain about the balance between home technology and physician-centered healthcare. Although the mental health of people around the world has taken a serious toll in 2020, there are reasons to be cautious. optimism
The impact of COVID-19 on our collective and individual well-being has forced the world to confront mental health challenges like never before, and innovative thinkers are rising to the challenge.
From a variety of fields, they brought solutions to a problem that previously seemed unsolvable. To highlight these exciting developments, the World Economic Forum’s Global Mental Health Futures Council partnered with Scientific American to select ten innovations that are doing the most to create a better world for all people living with mental illness.
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Based on this research, the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency approved asketamine, which is related to ketamine, an aesthetic and club drug.