The Covid-19 pandemic has been a sort of stress test for our 21st-century healthcare system — and it has been proven to be severely lacking. It has also exposed how paper-thin our mental healthcare systems truly are, even as experts predict a coming tsunami of mental health issues resulting directly from the pandemic.
The current standard of mental healthcare goes something like this: a patient goes to his GP complaining of mental health symptoms. That GP then evaluates whether the patient can be treated in-house or whether the patient needs to be referred to a psychiatric specialist. If so, the patient is put on a waiting list, which typically stretches for months, before he can get the professional help he needs.
Needless to say, the red tape surrounding mental healthcare in this current format is suffocating for patients who need urgent care now. Patients should not need to be at the edge of suicide to be considered for active psychiatric intervention. The traditional hierarchy of mental healthcare was never a good fit, and it certainly isn’t going to work in our post-pandemic world.
The good news is that there are pioneers and innovators who are utilizing the full powers of technology to drive positive change in the way we care for mental health patients. By observing trends in mental health startups, we can have a reasonably good idea of how the future of mental healthcare will look like.
1. Democratized
It was just a few generations ago that only the rich could afford to see a doctor, while the rest of society had to settle for bed rest, prayer, and (often dubious) home remedies. We are fortunate to live in a world today in which almost all levels of society have some access to healthcare. In countries like the UK, healthcare is free for everyone at the point of delivery.
Although access to physical healthcare has drastically improved over the past few decades, mental healthcare has not quite caught up. Because the waiting list to see a psychiatrist is often so long, it is the rich who are able to afford skipping the queue to see a private practitioner. This naturally creates a disparity in mental healthcare access between the rich and the poor.
The “democratization” of mental healthcare does not mean that everyone gets to vote; instead, it means that everyone gets to participate. It means that everyone’s mental health is valued, and quality care is accessible to everyone. For that to occur, the following two things need to happen: the digitalization and the personalization of mental healthcare.
2. Digitalized
Last year in the wake of the pandemic, the U.S. government approved opioid medication to be prescribed via telemedicine for the first time. This is a big deal; it sends the signal that telemedicine — the consultation of a physician virtually — is safe, secure, and effective.
Indeed, telemedicine startups have sprouted all across the world as the race to gain first-mover advantage begins. Mental health startups are also realizing the immense value of telemedicine: it allows people to connect more easily to a physician — anywhere, anytime.
Mental healthcare startups like Lina are offering subscription packages that allow users to have unlimited video consultations and messaging with their mental healthcare providers.
The digitalization of mental healthcare reduces red tape and improves efficiency for both users and healthcare providers. Crucially, it means that more people will be able to get access to quality mental healthcare when they need it; help is always just a click away.
3. Personalized
In the marketing world, the ability to personalize ads and target individual tastes is seen as a holy grail of sorts. Why waste money on bombarding everyone with the same ad when you can significantly boost results by tailoring it to each potential customer?
In the fitness world, gadgets like Fitbits are allowing users to track highly personalized fitness data, such as fitness progress, heart rate, and sleep quality.
Mental healthcare startups are likewise slowly waking up to the incredible power of technology to track personal data and progress. Our moods and feelings never stay static — they go up and down throughout the day. What difference would it make if we can track our thoughts and emotions in real-time and evaluate them later objectively?
Mental health apps like Mooditude allow users to track their thoughts and feelings whenever they want to. Users can enter guided diary entries, track thinking distortions, and view the real-time impact of their therapy sessions on their mental health.
The key feature of personalized mental health apps is that they allow users to track and improve their mental health at their own pace and at their own time. The outdated one-size-fits-all approach is on its way out.
Conclusion
Mental healthcare is always evolving as innovators and thinkers look beyond our current limitations to see a new world of possibilities. In the years to come, we will probably see more and more innovative offerings that will once again reshape the mental healthcare landscape. With an increasingly uncertain and restless world ahead of us, this can only be a very good thing.
