Introduction:
Technology has paved a new way for mental health care and data collection. Electronic gadgets like mobile phones, tablets, smartphones, and smartwatches enable the public, healthcare professionals, and researchers to obtain help, monitor progress, and gain an increased understanding of mental well-being. New technology can be incorporated into an intricately designed app for tablets or smartphones. These apps may utilize the device’s inbuilt sensors to obtain information about the user’s behavior patterns. If the app encounters any behavior change, it signals the need for help before a crisis sets in.
How Can Technology Benefit One’s Health?
Some of the benefits of technology are as follows:
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Health apps can be used to track long-term (chronic) illnesses and communicate the necessary information to the physician.
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Online medical records can provide access to test results and enable one to fill prescriptions.
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Health apps can be used to track one’s mental health information, diet, and exercise.
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Online education and knowledge about various health conditions.
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Joining certain support groups can improve communication with others and enhance the feeling of connection.
What Are the Indications That One Is Excessively Addicted to Technology?
Anything followed within limits does not cause any harm. If one utilizes technology in an appropriate manner, it offers lots of benefits. Before knowing the appropriate ways, it is necessary to understand how much is too much. Some of the indications that one is excessively addicted to technology are as follows:
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Too much complaining from one’s friends and family members about one’s excessive use of electronic gadgets.
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Prioritizing technology such that it affects one’s work.
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Choosing technology over friends and family and neglecting them.
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Poor sleep or avoiding physical activities due to technology use.
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Difficulty refraining from using technology.
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Experiencing stress or anxiety or experiencing physical symptoms like muscle pain, tension headaches, eye strain, or overuse injuries.
What Are the Benefits of Mental Health Applications?
Mental health apps are beneficial in seeking mental health information and also provide access to consulting mental health professionals from the comfort of one’s home. Some of the benefits of mental health apps are as follows:
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Convenient: Those who find it difficult to consult a physician in person can have a consultation virtually from any place and at any time.
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Round-The-Clock Service: Some apps provide round-the-clock monitoring or support.
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Less Expensive: Using mobile apps for healthcare consultation makes it less expensive than in-person consultations.
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Anonymity: Individuals can obtain treatment privately and anonymously from their homes itself.
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The First Step Towards Mental Health Care: Mental health apps enable one to take their first step towards seeking help for their mental health who were previously hesitant to do so.
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Greater Reach: The application of technology in the healthcare sector offers access to those residing in remote areas to seek help in times of traumatic events, sudden need, and so on.
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Increased Interest: Individuals show increased interest in obtaining medical care since online healthcare technology is more accessible and appealing than in-person consultations.
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Collection of Data: Information like location, phone use, movement, and other details can be collected.
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Increased Support: Unlike a longer waiting time or long commute to the hospital, online consultations provide consultations through fixed appointments, extended one-on-one sessions, reinforcing new skills, regular monitoring, and offering the needed support.
How Does Technology Benefit the Mental Health of Various Age Groups?
The following are the benefits of technology among individuals of various age groups:
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Young Generation: Teens and adolescents are at a high risk of developing psychological issues like depression, anxiety, and stress due to academic and social pressures. They may be hesitant to discuss their mental health issues with their friends or family members. Technological interventions can enable the younger generation to seek assistance for various mental health conditions anonymously and privately rather than seeking help through traditional interventions. Online counseling can act as an excellent method of identifying mental health conditions at an early stage.
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The Elderly: The lack of adoption of technology among the geriatric population may be due to difficulty learning new things with age, lack of interest in new technologies, and less technological socialization among the elderly. It has been found that adequate teaching and training provided to elderly adults regarding the use of technology-oriented mental health interventions have shown huge success in triggering the engagement of the elderly in these technology-oriented interventions.
Digital health interventions can significantly benefit the geriatric population since they can use these from the comfort of their homes and are accessible to even those living in remote locations. Apart from online consultations and mental health apps, simple technological assistance like alarms and reminders could also be beneficial to the elderly.
What Are the Contributions of Technological Interventions in Social Work Settings?
The following are the contributions of technological interventions in social work settings:
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Technological interventions in social work settings have facilitated enhanced patient conditions and compliance monitoring.
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One of the major advantages of technological intervention in the social setting is the accessibility to healthcare services, even in remote locations. Technological interventions are beneficial in disease diagnosis and treatment.
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For instance, cognitive training exercises offered through smartphones or tablets have shown success in minimizing cognitive decline in those with Alzheimer’s disease (a progressive disease that affects one’s memory and other vital mental functions), which is supported by clinical evidence of enhanced blood flow to the brain.
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Also, interactive experiences like virtual reality have successfully treated conditions like anxiety (excessive and continuous worry and fear about situations in everyday life), depression (persistent feeling of sadness and disinterest that interferes with daily activities), post-traumatic stress disorder (a disorder in which one fails to recover after witnessing or experiencing an unpleasant event), and so on.
How Does Artificial Intelligence Contribute to the Mental Health of Individuals?
At times of stress or depression, talking with someone else and sharing one’s feelings and thoughts can offer some relief. This is not possible at all times since one might feel reluctant to share certain information with others. In such situations, artificial intelligence comes to the rescue.
Chatbots and voice assistants can give suggestions like going for a walk or talking with a friend when one feels lonely and interact with these chatbots and voice assistants. With developments being made in natural language processing and machine learning, chatbots are getting smarter and more efficient in interacting with humans. Mental health chatbots can provide an opportunity for individuals to express their worries, concerns, and intrusive thoughts or indulge in therapeutic small talk. These chatbots make use of their conversational input to identify the mood of the user and respond with empathy.
What Are the Limitations of Mental Health Technological Interventions?
The following are a few limitations:
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Effectiveness: There is limited scientific evidence as to whether certain mental health apps are as efficacious as in-person consultations.
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Privacy: The users’ privacy needs to be considered since many health apps deal with sensitive information.
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Audience: Whether the app works equally well for everyone can be questionable.
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Guidance: The efficacy of the app cannot be determined since no industry-wide standards are set for assessing the quality.
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Regulation: The regulation of data and mental health technology are also questionable.
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Overselling: A few apps may issue fake promises of delivering more than what they could and can steer people away from using other, more effective apps.
Conclusion:
Technology has displayed its efficacy in various fields like education, general welfare, and so on. Technological interventions in improving mental health are slowly on the rise and can be beneficial to those living in remote locations, those who are hesitant to share certain issues through in-person consultations, and those who do not have sufficient time to consult a physician in person. Though technology has various negative effects, it offers many positive benefits, especially with regard to mental health, if utilized appropriately. Being aware of the possible negative effects of technology can enable one to take measures to identify and minimize their negative impacts on them. When utilized in the right way, technology can indeed be a boon rather than a bane.
