How Digital Healthcare Improves Access To Mental Health Treatment
How Digital Healthcare Improves Access To Mental Health Treatment
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the everyday stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to his or her community. Concerns about mental health are common, and various evidence-based interventions for mental health conditions have been developed.
In recent years, there has been increasing acknowledgment of the importance of mental health, as illustrated by the inclusion of mental health in the Sustainable Development Goals. However, many people do not have the ease of accessing appropriate mental health care and this has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time the arena of digital healthcare boomed. Digital health is nothing but the use of technology in the healthcare industry. It is a multidisciplinary concept and can be broadly deduced as the intersection between technology and healthcare. This may include components like electronic medical records (EMRs), tracking patient data via mobile devices, or more. The application and implementation of digital health through digital healthcare have become seemingly important in recent times, as more and more people are using technology to manage their everything, including health. There is often a sense of confusion regarding the term digital health – people associate it with describing digital medicine and digital therapeutics. Digital healthcare involves technologies and platforms that respond to the health-related needs of the patient and gather and store health information, but it is neither utilized as a medical tool nor does it require clinical evidence, whereas the latter is more heavily regulated, and the products are based on scientific evidence.
Symptoms of mental illness
It is not always possible to tell the difference between the expected behaviors and the signs of a mental illness. There is no one simple test that can confirm if there is mental illness or if the actions and thoughts could be the typical behaviors of a a person or if it is the outcome of a physical illness. Each illness has its symptoms, but some common signs and symptoms of mental illness predominantly in adults and adolescents could include the following: -Excessive worrying or fear -Feeling excessively sad or low -Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning -Extreme mood swings, including uncontrollable “highs” or “lows” or feelings of euphoria -Strong feelings of irritability or anger that last longer -Avoiding friends and social activities -Hard understanding or relating to other people -Changes in sleeping habits -The feeling of fatigue and low energy -Adverse changes in eating habits like increased hunger or lack of appetite -Changes in sex drive -Difficulty perceiving reality involving delusions or hallucinations -Inability to discern changes in one’s feelings, behavior, or personality. -Overuse of alcohol or drugs -Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague, and ongoing aches and pains) -Thinking about suicide -Inability to carry out daily chores or handle daily problems -A deep sense of concern with appearance Mental health conditions can also begin to advance in children, and as they are still learning how to identify and talk about thoughts and emotions, they most predominantly show behavioral symptoms and they may include the following: -Changes in school performance -Increased worry or anxiety -Hyperactive behavior -Frequent nightmares -Frequent disobedience or aggression -Frequent temper tantrums
Current scenario
Despite progress in many countries, people with mental health conditions often experience human rights violations, discrimination, and stigma. The COVID-19 pandemic has harmed the psychological state of people, with large sections of the population experiencing increased levels of hysteria, depression, stress, and loneliness. Depression is claimed to be one of the leading causes of ill mental health.
Suicide is supposedly the fourth leading cause of death among the age group of 15-29. People with severe psychological state conditions die prematurely, the maximum amount as two decades early. The widespread implementation of social distancing to combat COVID-19 transmission has facilitated a rapid transition to remote delivery of psychological state resources and care.
This experience could serve to be invaluable in improving digital services so that high-quality treatment can be delivered virtually. Digital technologies are now an important component of everyone’s everyday life, and therefore the world’s population has never been more connected. As a result, innovation, particularly within the digital realm, is happening at an unmatched rate. Implementing digital technology in mental healthcare can improve the delivery of compassionate care and paves effective ways to provide compassion and Treatment. Integrating mental health apps into e-healthcare settings is most feasible but requires careful attention to multiple domains that will influence the success of implementation. This includes the characteristics of the innovation like the utility and complexity of the app, the recipients of the technology, which in this case would be patients and clinicians, and the context just like the healthcare system buy-in, reimbursement, regulatory policies, etc.
Several effective facilitation strategies can be utilized to improve the implementation efforts include the co-production of technology involving all end users, specialized pieces of training for workers and patients, the creation of the latest team members to aid in app usage, and the re-design of clinical workflows. Digital solutions work best once they are a part of the existing healthcare system, and consistent with the World Health Organization (WHO), digital health should support continuity of care. Digital health tools can help one become more proactive about their health. they will aid them by providing the information that is needed to make informed decisions about one’s health and well-being. Digital health is neither a quick fix nor a replacement for the traditional healthcare system, but rather an enhancement. It provides patients with more access to information while also empowering them to take control of their health. By supplementing traditional care with digital health tools, one can improve patient outcomes and make a more efficient and effective healthcare system on the whole.
To realize this goal, digital mental health interventions and plans for their implementation must be designed with the target audience in mind. ‘Make mental health and well-being for all a global priority’ – this being the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day, various technology-enabled platforms have been developed to support the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders, including video-based psychotherapy, computer games, and AI. Digital resources also are being developed for patients to directly improve their mental health, like music and apps that promote mindfulness and well-being, and games that help to combat low mood by distracting patients from unwanted thoughts and helps them focus on the better. Mood self-report tools allow patients to explore and express their feelings without the fear of being judged and apps that describe symptoms can help to normalize a person’s psychological state disorder. Alongside these digital resources, the increase of mental health metrics that are being monitored increasingly provides insights that may further innovate the digital healthcare ecosystem.
The way forward
As healthcare providers still embrace the role that technology can play in broadening access to care, the planning and implementation of digital mental healthcare solutions must be carefully considered to maximize their effectiveness and accessibility. However, psychological state professionals and organizations should be mindful that compassionate human-centered treatment and care are maintained in the delivery of digital health care. Future research could be encouraged to develop tools that help facilitate and evaluate the enactment of compassion within digital health care. It calls on all stakeholders to figure together to deepen the value and commitment given to mental health, reshape the environments that influence the psychological state, and strengthen the systems that look after mental health.