The future of Mental Health Treatments
We know that technology has managed to open a new frontier in mental health support. Devices like cell phones, tablets and smartphones give doctors and researchers better ways to monitor progress and understand our mental well-being.
This kind of support looks simple but it is effective. One great example is anyone can ask for help via text message in difficult situations. New discoveries can also be put in a sophisticated app for both smartphones or tablets. Apps like this collect information related to behavior patterns. When a change in behavior is detected, it can provide a signal that help is needed when an emergency might appear.
Excitement about the big range of opportunities has increased the number of mental health apps that are being developed. There are thousands of them and it appears a lot more will come in the future.
What do the experts say?
Experts think that technology has a lot of potential for clients and clinicians. Some of the benefits are:
Treatments can be done at anytime and anywhere
Clients can find the right treatment options without involving another person.
Technology has been an outlet for people who have avoided mental health care in the past.
Some apps are free and can provide real help
Some technologies can be more appealing versus traditional treatment methods and this can encourage clients to continue therapy
Technology offers the same treatment
Technology can collect a lot of information like location, movement, phone use and more
At the same time, many research studies show new ways on how we can take control of our mental health.
The goal of these studies is to determine if a new test or treatment works and it is safe, especially when we are talking about mobile apps.
What is 100% sure is that technology is going to help us better understand how we look at mental health. Still, only by accepting the importance of this field can real progress be made. We all know that it doesn't matter if experts find different benefits that bring real value, until we change and embrace mental health as something important, results are going to be delayed. We need to pause for a moment if we want to understand mental health better. When we do that, everything becomes clear.
