Tag: technology and mental health

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.

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

From 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....

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

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

From 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...

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

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

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

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

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

From 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...

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.

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

From 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...

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

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

From 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,...

From Metro UK: A recent study found that increased Facebook use is associated with significant reductions in physical health, mental health, and life satisfaction. Article →­

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

From Forbes: Facebook is now using algorithms to monitor users' online activity for warning signs of suicidal ideation or self-harm. Article →­

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

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

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

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