Posts Tagged ‘mental illness’
“Digital therapeutics” vs. “Mental health apps”: A growing debate on standards, regulation and efficacy
The efficacy of Mental Health Apps (pharmaforum): In January, PLOS Digital Health published a study which claimed that there’s “sparse” data to support the efficacy of most mental health apps. In their meta-analysis of published studies, the authors found universal deficiencies and concluded that there’s no convincing evidence that app-based interventions deliver meaningful outcomes. Without…
Read MoreCollaborative neuroimaging initiative BrainChart helps chart how brains change across the lifespan
For decades, growth charts have been used by paediatricians as reference tools. The charts allow health professionals to plot and measure a child’s height and weight from birth to young adulthood. The percentile scores they provide, especially across multiple visits, help doctors screen for conditions such as obesity or inadequate growth, which fall at the…
Read MoreOtsuka and Virtual Reality start-up Jolly Good sign $43M deal to promote Social Skills Training (SST) therapies, helping schizophrenia patients first
Otsuka signs on Jolly Good for $43M mental health VR deal (Fierce Biotech): The duo will build out software—hosted on Jolly Good’s VR goggles and connected tablet devices, and backed by Otsuka’s expertise in developing neurological therapeutics—that takes a social skills training (SST) approach to treating mental illness. SST is a behavioral therapy in which…
Read MoreThe explosion of mental health apps raises substantial opportunities–and also difficult questions
In the eyes of the tech industry, mental health treatment is an area ripe for disruption. In any given year, 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experience a form of mental illness, according to federal estimates. And research indicates only about half of them receive treatment in a system that is understaffed and ill…
Read MoreThe way we approach Mental Health today is broken beyond repair. The question is, what comes next, and how fast can we get there?
The hidden links between mental disorders (Nature): In 2018, psychiatrist Oleguer Plana-Ripoll was wrestling with a puzzling fact about mental disorders. He knew that many individuals have multiple conditions — anxiety and depression, say, or schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He wanted to know how common it was to have more than one diagnosis, so he…
Read MoreShould heads of state and candidates to high office pass a cognitive/ mental fitness test?
Is it fair to question a presidential candidate’s mental fitness? (Salon): “My heart sank as he floundered his way through his responses, fumbling with his notes, uncharacteristically lost for words. He looked tired and bewildered,” Ron Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, wrote of his father’s performance during the first 1984 presidential debate. At…
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