Trend: Despite concerns, large US employers deploy apps, AI chatbots, other digital tools to boost workplace mental health

Employ­ers Are Offer­ing a New Work­er Ben­e­fit: Well­ness Chat­bots (The Wall Street Jour­nal): More work­ers feel­ing anx­ious, stressed or blue have a new place to go for men­­tal-health help: a dig­i­tal app. Chat­bots that hold ther­a­pist-like con­ver­sa­tions and well­ness apps that deliv­er depres­sion and oth­er diag­noses or iden­ti­fy peo­ple at risk of self-harm are snow­balling across…

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A call to action: We need the right incentives to guide ethical innovation in neurotech and healthcare

_______________ Ana Maiques, CEO and founder of neu­rotech com­pa­ny Neu­ro­electrics, writes up a com­pelling case in her recent arti­cle, sum­ma­rized thus: “I strong­ly believe that Neu­rotech entre­pre­neurs can not afford not to be involved in neu­roethics. It is sim­ply not an option any­more.” I share that belief and would like to take it one step further:…

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Global mental healthcare meets the digital revolution

…When com­mit­ting to the Unit­ed Nations’ Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals in 2015, world lead­ers empha­sized the impor­tance of pro­mot­ing men­tal health and well-being world­wide. Yet three years lat­er, the sit­u­a­tion remains grim. Every year, 800,000 lives are lost due to sui­cide. In the Unit­ed States alone, 

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Time to rethink Mental Health, especially anxiety disorders and depression

The glob­al men­tal health cri­sis could cost the world $16 tril­lion by 2030. With men­tal dis­or­ders on the rise in every coun­try in the world, nowhere is immune. Poor men­tal health stops employ­ees from reach­ing their full poten­tial and forces them to take more sick days, stunt­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and eco­nom­ic growth. This is also a…

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European tech initiative zooms in on digital biomarkers and mental health

EIT Health focus­ing on dig­i­tal bio­mark­ers and men­tal & brain health (Health Europa): “Announc­ing the sec­ond year of their inno­va­tion pro­gramme, Wild Card, EIT Health, a net­work of best-in-class inno­va­tors backed by the EU, are look­ing to chal­lenge tal­ent to deliv­er real solu­tions to the health­care mar­ket. This year, Wild Card will focus on two chal­lenges: mental…

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Large NIH study to collect and share data on the impact on kids’ brains of screen time and other social, behavioral, physical and environmental factors

NIH Study Probes Impact of Heavy Screen Time on Young Brains (Bloomberg): “Brain scans of ado­les­cents who are heavy users of smart­phones, tablets and video games look dif­fer­ent from those of less active screen users, pre­lim­i­nary results from an ongo­ing study fund­ed by the Nation­al Insti­tutes of Health show 

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