Mhealth platform has offered a quality solution to people in need of mental health support. The platform helps people who need support to cope with distress or other symptoms that they are suffering from. Mental health disorders wreck lives by destroying promising careers, ending marriages, threatening domestic and gender abuse among other things.
Why is the mhealth platform so popular?
It is very unfortunate that not all people are able to access one on one professional health. This is why so many are turning to the available mhealth resources. Some of these mhealth platforms offer programs to clients. The mhealth programs may include questionnaires, while some have created a virtual counselor who converses with the uses to make them comfortable as they talk about their anxieties.
Benefits of mhealth mental apps
Mhealth service gives access to more people
The mhealth app technology helps mental health providers offer treatment to people in remote areas. The platform is also better equipped to deal with a large influx of people who may need the service at the same time. The platform will be better equipped as compared to the traditional form of therapy.
Mhealth service provides convenience
The treatment can take any place according to the preference of the user. This can be at home, in a vehicle, or during the day and night. This is also most ideal for people who are uncomfortable with face-to-face physical sessions.
Anonymity offered on the mhealth platform
Most of the people who seek mental treatment prefer doing it by letting other people know they are doing it. The mhealth service hence provides a perfect platform as compared to the traditional form of therapy.
Mhealth service is cheap
There are many mhealth apps that are free while others charge a small fee that is at times cheaper than visiting a physician. This makes it available to people who are financially unstable.
Mhealth apps have self-monitoring features
The mhealth mental apps have app-based features that enable users to self-monitor. They can self-monitor their moods by periodically reporting their thoughts, behaviors, and actions that can increase their emotional self-awareness which has been used to implicate their anxiety, depression, or drug abuse. This is important because the increase in one’s ability o understand one’s emotions has been shown to reduce symptoms of mental illness and improve one’s coping skills.
Mhealth app services offer high engagement rates
The research found that because patients typically use the mhealth apps on their phones and tablets without clinical supervision they tend to be self-motivated. With this information, most mhealth developers seek ways to improve patient engagement through real-time engagement, set usage reminders, and gamified interactions.
Concerns raised on the usage of the mhealth apps
There have been cases where most insurance companies will not cover these mhealth services
There has limited access to out of state providers of the mhealth services.
- An online therapist on the mhealth platform will not be available to respond to a patients’ crisis in real life.
- Online therapy offered is not suitable for those with serious psychiatric illnesses. Online therapists may not be able to observe body language or vocal signals which are crucial in mental therapy
Online mental therapists only focus on one condition while traditional therapists are able to diagnose and treat multiple conditions. - Some online apps on mhealth services are designed without the involvement of mental health professionals.
Disadvantages of using mhealth apps
These are concerns raised as a disclaimer to the usage of mhealth apps
Effectiveness of mhealth apps
There have been concerns raised with technological interventions in obtaining scientific evidence on their productivity as compared to the traditional means of treatment.
Privacy of the mhealth platform
Apps, in general, require the input of sensitive personal information. This information should be safeguarded as people suffering from mental issues would not want information on their medical records made public. This is most especially in the mhealth service platform where they are offered anonymity. App developers need to be able to guarantee privacy for the app users.
Regulation of the mhealth apps
There have been concerns on who should regulate the mhealth mental health technology and the data that it generates. This is so that the questions raised by concerned parties should be properly handled as this particular demographic is vulnerable.
