Tech is going all-in on mental health, and that’s mostly a good thing

More and more, our mental health care is being delivered using tech solutions like smartphone apps, AI-powered chatbots and wearables — especially since the start of the pandemic.

Why it matters: Technology has its flaws, but experts say it has been critical in addressing some of the obstacles in access to mental health care: too few providers and too little insurance coverage.

More and more, our mental health care is being delivered using tech solutions like smartphone apps, AI-powered chatbots and wearables — especially since the start of the pandemic.

Why it matters: Technology has its flaws, but experts say it has been critical in addressing some of the obstacles in access to mental health care: too few providers and too little insurance coverage.

The pandemic turned out to be the perfect proving ground for many tech solutions.

• "We literally overnight went from mostly in-person visits to 100% telehealth unless, like, you needed heart surgery. It was kind of a crazy paradigm," said Chris Molaro, CEO and co-founder of NeuroFlow, a company that integrates behavioral health tools into the workflow of specialists and primary care doctors.

During the early pandemic shutdowns, mental health apps already on the market got a major boost from consumer users. At the same time, providers who traditionally only met in person quickly jumped to telehealth with their patient rosters.

• As demand for mental health providers surged, technology has offered tools that make it easier to scale and stretch resources where supply is lower, such as in rural areas.

What they're saying: "We've learned that technology can fill several big gaps when it comes to mental health care delivery," said Neha Chaudhary, co-founder of Stanford University's Lab for Mental Health Innovation.

• It can offer patients solutions that don't require travel to an office or sitting on a six-month waitlist, Chaudhary said.
• It can also get around some of the stigma that plagues mental health care. "[I]t can take a lot to show up to, say, a doctor's office. It doesn't take that much to log into an app on your phone," Chaudhary said.
• Another advantage: Devices can help track people's moods by prompting them to take surveys or tracking their activity levels, signaling to providers when a patient may be in acute crisis, said Johannes Thrul, assistant professor in mental health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Yes, but: There is still a lot of junk out there when it comes to mental health tech.

• "There's a very wide range from things that are not at all based on evidence — they're very poorly done," Thrul said. "And then there are other things that have really good evidence behind them."
• Regulatory bodies like the FDA are starting to get on top of this, but are behind.
• "We see this across technology where regulatory bodies are catching up with the development that's already happened," Thrul said. "And it's the same thing in mental health care."

The bottom line: The delivery of mental health care via tech is important. But it's not everything.

• "Maybe I shouldn't say this as a technology CEO, but I think in health care technology it is going to be technology plus human interventions when appropriate," Molaro said.

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