Tag: technology and mental health

Brave New Apps: The Arrival of Surveillance Psychiatry

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Large, centralized, digital social networks and data-gathering platforms have come to dominate our economy and our culture. In the domain of mental health, huge pools of data are being used to train algorithms to identify signs of mental illness. I call this practice surveillance psychiatry.

When Doctors Struggle With Suicide, Their Profession Often Fails Them

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From NPR: "The medical profession relies on the premise that doctors and medical staff, like highly trained endurance athletes, are conditioned to clock long...

The Quantified Heart: The Cultural Impact of Artificial Intelligence

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FromĀ Aeon: "Murmuring in their soft voices, Siri, Alexa and various mindfulness apps signal their readiness to cater to us in an almost slave-like fashion....

How Virtual Reality is Being Used to Treat Mental Health Issues

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FromĀ Financial Times: "So far, clinicians have most commonly used VR for exposure therapy ā€” for example, putting a person with a fear of heights...

Mental Health Apps Overdiagnose, Steer Toward Self-Help

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FromĀ MobiHealthNews: "'We identified two dominant messages about mental health: one, poor or fragile mental health is ubiquitous; and two, individuals can easily manage their...

Does My Algorithm Have a Mental Health Problem?

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FromĀ Big Think: As our algorithms are increasingly being made in our own image, they are at heightened risk of experiencing "mental health problems." "Take the...

Autistic People Are Breaking Stereotypes And Connecting Online

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FromĀ BESE: WhileĀ several recent articles and blogs have argued that social media can have a negative impact on our mental health, many members of the...

When Algorithms Are Running the Asylum

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FromĀ Neo.life: The emergingĀ discipline of computational psychiatry, which aims to use machine-learning algorithms to recognize patterns of mental distress and identify treatments that may be...

Facebook’s AI Suicide Prevention Tool Raises Concerns

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FromĀ The Daily Dot: Last week, Facebook announced a global rollout of their new suicide prevention algorithm, which aims to identify users deemed at risk...

Facebook Rolls Out AI to Detect Suicidal Posts

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FromĀ TechCrunch: Facebook's new artificial intelligence technology will now scan all posts for suicidal thoughts and send mental health resourcesĀ or contact local first-responders for users...

Smartphone Based Interventions for Depressive Symptoms

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New meta-analysis of smartphone based interventions demonstrates small-to-moderate effect.

A Likely Culprit for Teen Mental Health Deterioration

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FromĀ The Conversation: In the five years between 2010 and 2015, U.S. teens' mental health greatly deteriorated. The sudden ascendance of the smartphone is most...

More Bad News About Smartphones ā€“ When Will We Heed the...

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We might expect that there would be a reasonable response to an overwhelming body of evidence that our tech usage patterns must be altered or consequences will only become more dismal. Yet as we are learning, trends seem to be running contrary to what the advice begs us to consider.

The Smartphone Psychiatrist

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In this pieceĀ forĀ The Atlantic, David Dobbs delves into the life of former NIMH director Thomas Insel, his critiques of research within the field of...

Google Will Now Ask Users: “Are You Depressed?”

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FromĀ Yahoo! Finance: Google is launching a new search feature that will help check whether users are depressed. People who make depression-related queries will now...

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

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FromĀ The Atlantic: The pattern of constant smartphone and social media use among post-Millennials may be leading to a publicĀ mental health crisis. Research shows that...

The Virtual Couch: Is Online Therapy Going Viral?

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FromĀ Alternet: Applications that provide online counseling, such as BetterHelp and Talkspace, are increasing in popularity. While some studies support the effectiveness of virtual therapy,...

Virtual Reality Promising for Mental Health Treatment

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FromĀ Healio: A recent review indicated that virtual reality-based treatment may be effective for a variety of mental health concerns including phobias, social anxiety, PTSD,...

Using Facebook Damages Your Mental Health

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FromĀ Metro UK: A recent study found that increased Facebook use is associated with significant reductions in physical health, mental health, and life satisfaction. Article ā†’Ā­

What Your Therapist Doesn’t Know

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FromĀ The Atlantic:Ā Using data and analytics to measure the effectiveness of psychotherapy for individual clients can engender openness in the therapist-client relationship and improve mental...

Facebook Uses Machine Learning to Spot At-Risk Users

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FromĀ Forbes: Facebook is now using algorithms to monitor users' online activity for warning signs of suicidal ideation or self-harm. Article ā†’Ā­

Does Online Therapy Actually Work?

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From The Huffington Post:Ā Research suggests that online therapyĀ may be just as effective as in-person therapy for some mental health conditions. Article ā†’Ā­

DARPA’s Brain Chip Implants: Breakthrough or Total Disaster?

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FromĀ Gizmodo: Some researchers believe that deep brain stimulation - a surgical procedure involving the implantation of electrodes that send electrical signals to specific areas...

Smartphones are Really Stressing out Americans

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FromĀ TIME: A recent reportĀ by the American Psychological Association found that people who constantly check their smartphones experience higher levels of stress compared to people...

ā€œThe Code Iā€™m Still Ashamed of (for Pharma)ā€

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ā€œOne of the projects I was assigned to involved a drug that was targeted at women. The graphics and general style of the website...