Emma Selby, Clinical Lead, Wysa, shares the following with Lifestyle Health Hub…
Each year, more and more young people experience mental ill health. As reported in The Good Childhood Inquiry: health research evidence, 20% of adolescents are at risk of experiencing a mental health problem in any given year, and a startling 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14, with 75% identified by age 24. Unfortunately, 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental ill health have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age. The pandemic worsened this. From April to December 2020, 372,438 children and young people were referred to CYP mental health services, an increase of nearly a quarter (28%) or 80,226 from 2019.
We blame technology for many things, but the main one is the rise in mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety. Social media has been linked to a rise in low self-esteem and social anxiety for teenagers and adults, with a recent study finding that social media has had a particular impact on the mental health of girls, especially those aged 11 to 13. Psychologist Jean. M. Twenge, believes that technology has resulted in millennials being on the ‘brink of a mental-health crisis’.
The rising tide of mental health cases doesn’t seem to be able to be met by trained professionals and therapists, with budgets stretched thin within the support service and additional funding not available to meet the growing numbers. The King’s Fund think tank found that “mental health problems account for 23 per cent of the burden of disease” in the UK, but noted that spending on mental health services only accounts for 11 per cent of the NHS budget. Personalised care and psychological therapies are a key part of NHS Long Term Plans – but the UK doesn’t currently have the therapist resources to meet it. The British Medical Association has warned of chronic under-recruitment in psychiatric professions, with numbers remaining stagnant since 2009. And the UK Council for Psychotherapy put out a statement saying that more psychotherapists are needed in the NHS workforce to meet the UK’s looming mental health crisis. But this is a skilled profession that takes a minimum of 5 years to become qualified, so there is no quick fix by restricting the solution to more training for an increased workforce capacity.
While the links between mental health issues and social media have been proven, teens continue to turn to their phones and social media to find the support they need. As of the end of April 2022, TikTok videos with the hashtag #mentalhealth accumulated more than 32.4 billion views, #anxiety has almost 13.7 billion views, and #adhd, with close to 22 billion. These numbers are growing in their billions every day.
Young people are digital natives and are used to using technology in everyday life to form networks, identities and relationships. They are open to the idea of healthcare in this way. But good personalised tech for health must also be safe and clinically robust. Adolescents need discreet, engaging and personalised care designed with the user in mind, and in line with NHS structures and systems.
Gamification in healthcare is a growing approach that attempts to apply gaming principles to improve patient clinical outcomes. The best apps use behavioural science and nudge theory, but also build empathy and emotional relationships. Digital tools can incentivise positive behaviour and offer personalisation and a way to put consumers in control of their care plan.
Yet we can go beyond this. A new generation of clinically robust tools that use evidence-based cognitive-behavioural techniques (CBT), meditation, breathing and mindfulness exercises, as well as micro-actions to help users build 
mental resilience skills can transform the landscape of healthcare.
This is not about replacing counsellors or therapists, supporting them to manage their caseloads, by reducing admin time and, through effective etriage, being able to direct resources to those most in need. By offering immediate support, young people can begin to improve their mental health upon self-referral and avoid further deterioration that can come from lengthy waiting lists. It’s about meeting young people where they are, in a way that works for them. That is truly personalised care.
Wysa is a global leader in AI-driven mental health support, available both to individuals and through employer benefits programs. Wysa helps in dealing with stress, depression, and anxiety with the help of an “emotionally intelligent” bot, which uses evidence-based cognitive-behavioral techniques (CBT), meditation, breathing and mindfulness exercises, as well as micro-actions to help users build mental resilience skills. Wysa has facilitated over 100 million conversations in 65 countries across the globe. Wysa works with 20 enterprise partners to support 7 million employees worldwide, with partners that include the Ministry of Health in Singapore, Accenture Global, Aetna International and L’Oreal.
