Women's Digital Health

Navigating Digital Mental Health: Digital Apps, Digital Therapeutics and Resources

• Women's Digital Health • Season 2 • Episode 11

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Welcome to this episode of the Women's Digital Health podcast! Today, I want to discuss the connection between mental health and overall well-being and the urgent need for more mental health tools and resources. According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, 90% of respondents believe that the United States is in a mental health crisis. Therefore, understanding the connection between mental health and overall health and exploring digital mental health apps as valuable resources for everyone, regardless of their current emotional state, is essential. In this episode, we dive into the world of digital mental health apps.

Topics include:

  • How digital mental health apps can promote overall mental well-being, regardless of your current mental health status
  • Things to consider when choosing a mental health app
  • How to evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of an app
  • Resources that can help you to choose the right mental health app for you
  • Evidence, Privacy, and Regulatory considerations to take into account when selecting a mental health app

 Digital mental health apps can promote overall mental well-being, regardless of your current mental health status.

In future episodes, we will explore other tools in the digital mental health space, including telehealth, artificial intelligence, and more.

Resources Included in this episode: 


I aim to provide tools and resources to help individuals face life challenges and enhance their mental well-being. Whether you're feeling great or you're struggling with mental health issues, it's essential to be proactive in seeking out and utilizing mental health apps.

Subscribe to the Women's Digital Health Podcast wherever you're listening right now. And please share the podcast with anyone from your community who will benefit.

Disclaimer
The information in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

The personal views expressed by guests on Women's Digital Health are their own. Their inclusion here does not constitute an endorsement from Dr. Brandi, Women's Digital Health, or associated organizations.

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 Welcome to the Women's Digital Health Podcast, a podcast dedicated to learning more about new digital technologies in women's health. We discuss convenient and accessible solutions that support women with common health conditions. Join us as we explore innovations like mobile health applications, sensors, telehealth, and artificial intelligence, plus more. Learn from a board-certified anesthesiologist the best tips to fill in some of your health experience gaps throughout life's journey. Welcome back. Welcome back to the second season of Women's Digital Health. Happy New Year to all of my listeners. I know that it's been a little bit of time since I recorded the last episode of season one, but I'm so excited. I'm excited to start the new year. We've got some exciting material. We have been working so, so hard behind the scenes. to give Women's Digital Health an updated look. There's a bunch of updates coming up, including a brand new website that I want to share with you, new ways to connect with Dr. Brandi. We've got some upcoming workshops and, you know, just a general different approach to talking about digital health based upon some of the feedback that I got. So stay tuned. So if you've tuned into this particular episode because you want to hear about updates in digital mental health, you're in the right spot. But before I get into that, I wanted to make sure I highlight the updates that we've made to our website. We've been really working hard. When I tell you we've been working hard, it's been a lot going on behind the scenes to make the website a lot more user friendly. We took a lot of the feedback that we've gotten about trying to find the resources on our website, and we've incorporated those things into the new website. So if you check it out, the most important part of the website is the top part. where you can have opportunities to connect on the blog, the podcast, and the newsletter. But in particular, the blog, that's where we're going to store a lot of our articles. And now our articles are organized in three major topics. There's real women's digital health stories where you can hear from women who are having challenges with their health. And they're going to tell you a story about how they overcame these challenges. We have women's health and education and guidance. So, you know, that's where you're gonna get important pillars to approach your health. Whether or not you're using a health technology or not, this is a resource that can get you started or to help you improve on your journey. Whether you're trying to prepare for your next healthcare clinic or you're just leaving the healthcare clinic and you're like, okay, now what do I do? And then the last part of the blog is personalized health tech. So this is where we focus on giving you solutions that we recommend. Now, we are not endorsing any of these solutions. We don't get any money from any of these recommendations. These are just various technologies that we think you might benefit from. And it's not so much about any one particular brand or company. It's really about you becoming aware of what technology is being used in women's health today and how these various technologies might be currently used or could potentially be introduced to your healthcare experience in the future. Probably the biggest change I'm gonna announce in this particular episode is that you're gonna get more engagement from Dr. Brandi. I think that was the second biggest source of feedback that I got. And so we're gonna be talking about some upcoming workshops in another episode. I think one of the things that we wanted to make sure that we talked about is that, you know, we're constantly updating and the one way in which we want to improve is that we need to slow down. That was really important. That was really important feedback that I got is that maybe we're going a little bit fast. You know, we're jumping from health topic to health topic, and perhaps people could benefit from diving a little bit deeper into some of those topics. And so you're going to hear a little bit more on each health topic as we move forward this season. So the topic that I thought would serve us best at the beginning of 2024 would be mental health. We're going to talk in detail about the different components of the digital mental health space. But we're going to take the components of digital mental health space episode by episode. In this particular episode, we're going to be talking about digital mental health apps. But the digital mental health apps space is not the only component. You have digital mental health telehealth options. There's digital mental health artificial intelligence. And there are devices that you can attach to your tablets, smartphones, and laptops that deserve their own episode. And so I've decided to organize each of these components, health app, telehealth, artificial intelligence, and devices into their own episodes to give us a little bit more time to chew on these topics. give you some more opportunity to investigate on your own and ask more questions for us so that we can have a more comprehensive conversation about digital mental health as it stands right now in 2024. You know, this is a greatly needed topic, and I'm sure it's the reason you are tuning in. And I'm super excited to share what's been going on in the digital mental health space. As I said, you know, the digital mental health spaces, it's a big, it's a big space. And I recognize this is a sensitive topic, you know, and so just to start, I want to make sure that we have various resources. that we can use right now. You know, if you're feeling like you've reached a low point or you're having a tough time, just know that the National Suicide Prevention Line is accessible nationwide in the United States. The easiest, easiest thing to do is to dial 988 on your phone. That's the easiest access to the National Suicide Prevention Line. The other 800 number is 800-273-TALK or 800-273-8255. Those two resources, those are the easiest ways to get in touch with an expert to help you walk through what you're going through, to meet you where you are. It is okay. Even if you don't think you need it, you're just not sure, dial it anyway. Talk to somebody. Those resources are out there to help you. The second resource is the Trevor Project, and they are focused on suicide prevention and overall mental well-being for the LGBTQ youth. Their number is 866-488-7386. The last resource I will mention is for my international community. If you're listening to Women's Digital Health outside the U.S., find befrienders.org, B-E-F-R-I-E-N-D-E-R-S.org. They have a number of resources for the international community. I'm going to list all three of these resources, the National Suicide Prevention Line, the Trevor Project, and befrienders.org in my show notes. All right, so we're ready to dive into digital mental health. Just to back up a little bit, just to remind people what digital health is, digital health encompasses any technology, a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, any device, any technology that's improving the health and well-being of you. In summary, I like to think of this as a shift away from paper. It's a shift away from charting, paper charting that you might've traditionally seen in the healthcare setting and moving towards tools, technologies that complement the high touch experience that you would get in the clinic or hospital setting. Except we're just doing it with less paper. And so in this particular episode, we're going to be talking about the mental health tools that are showing up in digital health. And we call that digital mental health. So as I said before, we are specifically going to be talking about digital mental health apps for this particular episode. And I've divided this into four sections. We're going to be talking about why digital mental health apps? Why? Number two, we'll talk about who are these digital mental health apps for? We'll also discuss the approach to picking these digital mental health apps. And lastly, I will discuss some of the evidence behind digital mental health apps and the resources that I found to be very helpful when trying to come up with an approach or method to finding mental health apps and all of the supportive material to make the best decision. So I guess the first question, you know, I'm sure that's out there is Dr. Brandy, why digital mental health? I mean, isn't the digital health experience full of so many other health issues? Why digital mental health? And number two, isn't the mental health experience supposed to be this in-person one-on-one treatment? Isn't that what mental health is supposed to look like? And I'll answer that question by starting with a statement, which is that there was a survey done by the American Psychological Association in 2023, and it asked the question, do you believe that we are in a mental health crisis? And from that survey, 90% of the responders to that question believe that the United States is currently in a mental health crisis. And it went on to survey adult responders asking them, have they recently experienced anxiety? And over 30% of the adults responded that yes, they had recently experienced anxiety or they had ongoing anxiety. And over 30% of those responders also mentioned that when they were trying to find help, they were trying to find a provider, they had difficulty finding help. So I think this speaks to the overwhelming need for us to have more tools in the mental health care space. You know, with regards to the one-on-one personal touch, yes, I think that is the overall goal for all mental health experts is to continue to provide that. But the demand for their expertise is outpacing the providers. And so there's a need for technology to help supplement their care while they are continuing to, you know, manage the large number of people who are sticking at their expertise. So who are these health apps for? Well, they're for everyone. You know, everyone is going to need some sort of support at some point. I don't even think it's a question of if you need it, it's really a question of when do you need them. And when you do ask for them, who is going to offer them? Now, to some of you who are listening, you're like, Dr. Brandy, what do you mean by everyone? I'm feeling great. I don't have any problems with my mental health. You're not talking to me, right? And the answer is, As a matter of fact, that's actually the perfect time to start thinking about your mental health. Mental health is brain health. So if you're feeling good, let's say you started off 2024 strong, you're in the gym, you're eating right, you're sleeping eight hours through the night. I'm so envious if you can sleep eight hours straight. Good for you. But you change your diet, your mood is great. You know, that's the best time to start thinking about other tools that you can use to enhance your health. It's tough to start looking for these tools when you're feeling, you're not feeling the best. And I think it's, again, it's not necessarily a time, a question of if you need them, it's a matter of when do you ask for them? And when you do ask for them, who's going to offer you the support? Now, what if you're in the second group? Which is that, you know, the holiday blues are real. You didn't have such a great start to 2024. You know, you're feeling tired, you have less energy. I've been there. I totally understand what that feels like to not have such a great moment in life's journey. And I think a lot of the stigma around mental health is that Some people feel as if they should be ashamed about asking for the help when they're feeling low because, well, they should have known that they were feeling this low. And that's just not life's journey. That's not how health works. Mental health is brain health. And the most important component of this is giving you tools to help you face life challenges whenever you feel as if you need them. And so the approach we are taking to this is that you can ask for help anytime you want. These mental health apps are for everyone. It doesn't mean that you have to wait until a certain time in your life. You can start exploring them. The whole point of this episode is for you to actually, you know, start looking for these health apps, no matter how you're feeling. And I would say probably the first approach to looking at these health apps is to take the inventory. Figure out how you are feeling. And so the next component of this episode is talking about what's the best approach to looking for some of these mental health apps. All right, so what's the best approach to picking some of these mental health apps? Well, I'm going to tell you what I did in preparation for this particular episode that I would not recommend that you do. So in preparation, I did a Google search. And I Googled searched, what are the best mental health apps for women? And I came across this list. The list was on the Women's Health Magazine, and it was a list of mental health apps for women. And what popped up on the list were apps for sleep, focus, meditation, exercise. Okay, great. You know, I was happy to see that, number one, someone is starting to take note of mental health for women. You know, both men and women have the equal ability to cope with life's changes. But I think that there are some challenges that are unique to women. So I was really happy to see that more publications are getting more specific about these experiences for women. But the one thing that I've learned about choosing mental health apps is that looking for a mental health app on a list might not be the best approach to finding the best app for you. The first thing to do is actually have a self opportunity to self reflect within yourself of what's going on. You know, if you're feeling great, you're feeling fantastic, you know, are you looking for a health app that's going to keep that flow, keep that momentum, keep that quality of life? Or are you feeling fatigue? Are you feeling sadness? Are you feeling anger? You know, what is, what's going on with you so you can pick the best app that's going to fit those needs? Unfortunately, what I picked was the app with the prettiest app art. I picked the app with the best reviews, with the most stars. And, you know, according to the American Psychiatry Association, that actually came up with a digital mental health 101 guidelines. You know, that approach is probably not the ideal approach. And instead, you need to start thinking about digital mental health apps as two sort of flavors. There are health apps. The health apps focus on mental health conditions, and there are digital wellness apps. These apps focus on habits like sleeping, exercise, and meditation. So we're going to dive a little bit deeper into specifically what a digital mental health app that's focused on a mental health condition looks like versus a digital mental wellness app that might help give us some insight on how to choose these apps. Hey, listeners, it's Dr. Brandy. Thanks for listening to this episode of Women's Digital Health. subscribe to Women's Digital Health on your favorite podcast platform. If you want to know even more about how to use technology to improve your health, subscribe to our newsletter on womensdigitalhealth.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Enjoy the rest of this episode. So when you're discussing digital mental health, again, that's a lot more narrow focus. You know, you're talking about mental health conditions like ADHD or substance abuse or depression or anxiety. There are even digital mental health apps for irritable bowel syndrome. These specific conditions often involve a mental health provider that can offer, you know, traditional mental health therapies. And one particular sector of mental health that is growing is called digital therapeutics. And this is a specific prescription that is growing in the digital health space in general, but is rapidly evolving within the mental health space. And these are digital approaches to using common therapies that are already used in the mental health space, like cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT, that are prescribed by professional mental health providers. And these digital mental health apps are a part of a treatment plan. They are treating patients via these technologies. So they require engagement with your healthcare provider, not only through the app, but they're also introducing artificial intelligence that's a lot more personalized to your particular condition. So if you have substance abuse, ADHD, many other mental health conditions, you know, they're being offered, they're being offered to enhance your experience behind just your in-person traditional experience. I think what's really exciting about digital therapeutics is that there's actually a lot of evidence that supports that these tools are very effective, if not more effective sometimes for certain populations in treating patients. And it offers some degree of validation that digital health tools can be effective, that you can, you know, even have a randomized control trial, which is the standard in the healthcare industry, to prove that something is effective. And if you go to the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, you'll find a lot of the evidence to support the effectiveness of digital therapeutics. So as I mentioned, the second flavor of digital mental health apps would be the digital mental wellness apps. And I think the majority of the mental health apps in the app store are these. These are wellness apps that are focused on some habit or ritual. Now keep in mind, if you're looking for something like sleep or an app for sleep or focus, keep in mind some mental health conditions, you know, lack of sleep, lack of energy, lack of focus could be a symptom of a mental health condition. So I am not trying to get you to encourage you to self-diagnose yourself, but I want to make sure you just keep in mind that the wellness apps sometimes solve symptoms but may not actually address a condition. And so having said that, I want to make sure that as we talk about our third component, which is evidence and resource, that when you're choosing from the hundreds of thousands of mental health apps out here, you can be very picky. And one of the most important questions you should be asking is, does this app that claims it's going to solve this issue, can it do what it says it's actually going to do? So we'll talk about the evidence and resources that you can use to actually answer that question for many of these apps. So the last component of this episode is going to be discussing resources and evidence for using digital mental health apps. And I just want to put a spotlight on the regulatory component of it before I discuss it. You know, the FDA has been charged with evaluating you know, the claims of many of these mental health apps. And as I've said before, there are hundreds of thousands of these apps coming out every day. And quite frankly, it is overwhelming for the FDA to evaluate them and make sure that they are not causing harm and they are doing what they they claim they're going to do. FDA has tried to approach the mental health apps with the largest reach, but like I said, they're just coming out so fast that there are other resources now that have stepped up to really support this effort. So the first one that I have to commend is the American Psychiatry Association. Now they have this app evaluation model, and I would argue this one's more for mental health professionals who are trying to look at an app for their patient to decide what's the best approach to make sure that this app that my patient has brought to me is not going to be harmful. And so they have kind of this app evaluation model. There are steps that you can take to make sure that it's not harmful. I think if you are a patient that is looking at any of these apps, I would say probably the most important thing is number one, to make sure that These apps, if they're claiming that they're going to solve your insomnia, you know, take away your pain or give you more energy, do they cite any evidence on their website that supports that this app, there is evidence that this app has done this for a number of people. Just citing that they know that insomnia exists as a paper, as a reference, is not enough. And so you need to make sure that these apps, when they say that there's evidence, that they do what they say they're going to do. And so the American Psychiatric Association, the app evaluation model takes you through those steps more so for mental health providers. The second organization that I think does a great job is the American Psychological Association. I mentioned that they have a digital mental health 101. That's more for the patient, but they started to really dive into, hey, listen, there's a couple of things you want to keep in mind if you're looking for the best mental health app that I love, love, love about it. One of the most important things that I actually, I have not mentioned this, but, you know, privacy is a huge, huge issue in the mental health app space. You know, disclosing your mental health conditions is very sensitive information. And so I'm seeing a lot of these mental health apps put on their app that they are you know, HIPAA compliant. They are complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. And what that means is what they are saying is that they have a covered entity, i.e. a mental health professional or a third party that's collecting data on behalf of that mental health professional. That's actually a part of your team and they're responsible for taking in the data and making sure that what you say in their app is private. And in addition to that, they're also, if you are saying you're HIPAA compliant, that if there is a data breach, they are also responsible for protecting your data. They have a plan in place to protect your data if it's breached. And so I'm not entirely sure that a lot of these mental health apps are doing what they say they're going to do. But there is another resource that you can use called MindApps, M-I-N-D-A-P-P-S dot org. MindApps is this tool is out of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and they have a division specifically focused on digital psychiatry. And when you put your app in there, it can answer the question for some of these mental health apps. Is this app HIPAA compliant? Does it say, does it claim that this app is going to do this thing? Does it actually do what it claims it's going to do? Is there any evidence? Is there any studies to support it? I think this is wonderful. And I really hope to see other organizations take this on because the rapid pace of these mental health apps coming out is just so, so great that we need some vetting. We need a trusted source to actually vet a lot of these mental health apps. And then the final resource I would recommend is if you're more interested in digital therapeutics. And the reason I bring this with digital therapeutics alliance.com website up is because that's where you can find evidence behind the use of digital therapeutics in the digital mental health space. They have randomized controlled trials. They talk a lot about effectiveness of these technologies. You know, I think they do a great job of really trying to educate and help explain this rapidly evolving technology for mental health. So that concludes episode 11. We talked about why do we need digital mental health, who they are for, you know, an approach to picking these mental health apps and the evidence and resources that can support whether or not the mental health app that you've chosen actually works for you. You know, thank you so much for listening to this particular episode. Again, we are going to go into more details about other tools in the digital mental health space, including telehealth, artificial intelligence, and other devices. You know, if you have a digital mental health app that you want to share, tell us about it. Email me at Brandy. at women'sdigitalhealth.com. Tell me what it did for you. How did it impact your life? And what are some things you thought, you know, might be helpful when you were trying to pick the best mental health for your life journey? Thank you guys so much. Make sure to share this episode with your friends. Don't forget to like us on Instagram. LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, we'd love to hear from you. And I hope that your new year is off to a strong start. Thank you so much. Although I'm a board-certified physician, I am not your physician. All content and information on this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice and it does not establish a doctor-patient relationship by listening to this podcast. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast. The personal views of our podcast guests on women's digital health are their own and do not replace medical professional advice.