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Spring Health and Woebot
In the era of social media and the Internet, instant digital connectivity can paradoxically make us feel very isolated.
"People are much more lonely than we think," said Alison Darcy, founder and CEO of Woebot, a virtual therapist who will talk to you about a panic attack at 3 am
Woebot is one of the new companies to treat mental illness. Spring Health, a start-up founded by April Koh, also sells a digital platform to businesses so that their employees have better access to mental health treatments. Darcy and Koh are both on the list of Business Insider's Top 30 Health & Technology Leaders under 40.
More than 44.7 million adults in the United States live with a diagnosed mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. That's close to one in five adults, but there is still a significant stigma badociated with discussing mental health issues.
Estimates from the National Institute of Mental Health suggest that only half of people with mental illness receive treatment.
But new startups are at the forefront of a radical change in the way that mental illness is diagnosed and treated.
"The fact is that a large number of people in the United States will never contact a clinician." "Worldwide, it's worse than that: more than half of the world's population does not have access to basic health care, so we simply need to do better."
Darcy was previously a clinical research psychologist at Stanford, creating and developing treatments in a traditional and academic way. She left to build Woebot, which can offer cognitive-behavioral therapy accessible to users on their phones or Facebook Messenger.
The app registers daily with patients, asks them how they go and gives ideas like "oh, you seem to be anxious every Sunday night, what happens to them? Monday? "
The non-intimidating, conversational format will not deviate from the fact that it is supported by many algorithms, and can give users instant resources and advice.
In a world where social media can cause unhappiness and loneliness, "everyone tells you that everyone is happier, and everything you do basically boosts," said Darcy. "This is not exactly a recipe for inner peace." Woebot, Darcy says, does not replace traditional therapy, but is part of an ecosystem where people have more choices to decide how they want to go on their mental health journey and when they should seek more intensive care across real life therapy.
Koh's Spring Health, meanwhile, takes a different angle. The company is trying to integrate mental health care into the traditional benefits offered by employers and businesses.
Spring Health is a digital mental health clinic that can screen for mental health issues through an online questionnaire. It then suggests personalized treatment options, and can virtually connect users with mental health professionals in their insurance network, depending on their responses. This increases the ease of access for employees and their family members, and shortens the time between diagnosis and treatment planning.
Spring Health also uses clinically validated machine learning to determine the best treatment plan for the patient. Koh has seen her best friend scroll through seven different antidepressants before finding the one that suits her, and she wants to use technology to shorten the trial and error process.
Mental health, untreated, can be an expensive undertaking for employers. According to the American Journal of Psychiatry, serious mental illness costs America $ 193 billion in lost revenue a year.
Spring Health, in turn, is trying to make the mental health experience better and more widely available.
"The industry is incredibly opaque, so you're going to get a therapist or psychiatrist on Google and you'll see a static list of providers with phone numbers, and they may or may not take your phone call," he said. said Koh.
Koh believes that Generation Y is more and more inclined to talk about mental health issues, which will open the door to better solutions.
"Stigma is greatly reduced, making employers feel much more comfortable with providing tools and solutions that could help their employees become more mentally resilient," she said. .
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