Can a mobile app cure depression? New AI apps will surprise you!

mobile app cure depression

Mobile app cure depression

There has been a ton of research and experimentation done to attempt and understand mental fitness and diseases. Regardless of discovering ways of easing the symptoms, prevention, and early diagnosis remains a problem that holds back a potential cure. Prompt detection of rational changes can significantly slow down disease development, its problems, and prevent distressing consequences. Based on neural studies and capability of handling massive amounts of data, artificial intelligence can be that missing component in solving the unknown around mental disorders and issues. e-Mental health has been instrumental in handling numerous psychological problems and is going to be the next big thing in the digital health sector.

What is e-Mental health?

e-Mental health focuses on psychological problems and mental health that are conveyed through the web and mobile interactive websites, sensor-based monitoring apps, devices, desktops, and smartphones.

e-Mental health services are a compelling and balancing sector to traditional face-to-face mental health services. By providing possible and anonymous prevention, the web can play a significant role in disabling obstacles for seeking assistance. It targets to reform and increase the detection, delivery of e-mental health tools and programs.

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Why is therapy a good field for AI and mobile health?

At some stage in their life, 1 in 4 people around the world will be affected by some mental health complaint; from bipolar disorder to depression to anxiety, which take place in many forms. It transmits projected global economic cost of over $2 trillion USD every year, as well as offering some of the most daunting challenges to upholding well-being in healthcare systems globally.

(Source: https://www.healthmgttech.com/enews/201608/04/toc.htm)

Apparently, there are various reasons for this- small institutions, neglect, pure misinformation or social stigma. People may not have access to good healthcare; certainly, they may not wish or even know that they need aid and advice. However, the issue is clear: attention needs to be extended to include those without it.

This is precisely where research organization, startups, and healthcare companies are trying to bring in e-Mental Health Services. With mental health in mind, they are building an intelligent virtual assistant with AI where users can interact with apps which can track and assess mental health.

Top e-Mental health mobile applications

Mental well-being apps have the perspective to quickly grow treatment access to a vast population of smartphone users, as well as those in the developing world. They can provide practical and straightforward real world answers to mental health problems. Let’s review some of the best mobile apps in the mental health sector.

Ginger.io

Utilizes sensor information to gather a patient’s condition. They perceive the critical part of doing the reviews to ensure that the measures that are being gathered have some connection to indications and estimation of a disease. They offer support, direction, treatment, and drug support from expert mentors, authorized advisors, and specialists, separately.

Dialog

Developed in 2014 and backed by the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Dialog evaluates a patient’s voice for signs of suffering and evaluates how engaged both the clinician and the patient sound to help the healthcare provider build a relationship.

eCBT Calm

Provides a range of tools to anyone evaluate personal anxiety and stress, challenge misleading thoughts, and learn relaxation abilities that have been scientifically approved in research on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It offers tons of background and valuable data alongside step-by-step guidelines.

SHUTi

The ‘Good Night Study’ was a world-first trial of an online insomnia treatment called ‘SHUTi.’ 1 in 10 Australians report issues with dwindling, or staying, asleep. Insomnia is both a symptom and cause and of standard psychological health conditions. The SHUTi online program provides a combination of CBT techniques and sleep hygiene to target unhelpful behaviors and thoughts, and is adapted so individuals can keep tabs on their progress and see where they most need assistance. The research study showed that the SHUTi treatment group experienced considerably reduced sleeping disorder, depression, and anxiety, with these changes persisting for no less than six months.

Sleepio

A psychological, behavioral treatment based app for sleep management, has been shown in a few trials to help long term sleeping disorder – one test put adequacy at 75%.

What are the pros and cons of treating mental health with artificial intelligence?

Mental Health Apps with AI have developed in popularity at a time when psychological care services have faced bigger demand and diminished resources. In fact, there are more than 160,000 mobile applications available for health care, with the primary segment for individuals with mental-health conditions, dealing everything from addiction to schizophrenia, and depression.

Pros

  • Systematic audits have demonstrated that applications that have inclusion with clinicians are twice as compelling, so if you visit the website of an app you’re considering downloading, and there are contact details for a mental health specialist, it’s one good sign that the app will be clinically reasonable.
  • Apps that high can play a significant part regarding waiting lists. They can go about as a triage for low priority mental health complications and can be the ideal cure in quite a few cases.
  • Apps can be valuable, but we need to make sure that with extended usage we also take time in doing further research to confirm that they’re powerful.
  • Many people find it hard to access healthcare services due to geography and because of mental ill health or physical disability. But, apps can fill the gaps.
  • Psychiatrists must examine whether apps are password protected or biometrically validated. Patient information should be protected in case the mobile device is hacked or stolen. Most of the apps come with encryption and data security.

Cons

  • There are a large number of unproven mental health apps available for Apple and Android, covering mental health, mood tracking, CBT, peer support and more.
  • According to a research issued in the journal Evidence-Based Mental Health, a group at the University of Liverpool found that numerous mental health online programs and apps lack “an underlying evidence base, a lack of scientific credibility and limited clinical effectiveness.”
  • No quick fixes. If an app says you only need to sign in for ten mins for a complete cure, it’s just not believable. It just doesn’t happen like that. Patients and Clinicians should check the in-depth details before involving into it.

Conclusion e-Mental health applications

Mobile Mental Well being apps and programs are an early and growing field and are quickly turning into a fundamental element of global health care. The efficacy and quality of the majority of publicly available health and mental health apps are still unverified. A more structured and organized way to app development and testing is required to address these issues. More rapid usability and efficacy testing could be attained by generating user reviews and assessment into apps.

Mental health apps with the power of modern AI, accessibility and an inaccessibility and help people who need them in the future.

Image credit: www.istockphoto.com

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