Digital Mental Health (Health Technology): Present and Future

Deloitte currently projects the global spending on mobile mental health apps alone will amount to almost $500 million in 2022, up from less than $300 million in 2021. And we can anticipate the total market for software solutions for mental conditions will be even larger. The global market for mental health software was estimated to be $1.9 billion in 2020, and it's expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2026. There is a huge market for digital mental health.

Digital tools are transforming mental health care. The promise of this transformation to improve outcomes has not yet been realized fully. Digital mental health refers to services targeting mental health problems via online and mobile technologies. Digital mental health enthusiast claim that by using modern technology we can prevent and provide treatment for anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions.

The prevalence of mental illness varies from 10-20% across the globe. Treatment gap varies from 70 to 80% across the developing world.
To address these treatment gaps, a range of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) have been developed over the past 25 years. These interventions have been developed to offer an alternative to traditionally delivered mental health interventions, and may be more accessible and acceptable to some individuals.

Digital intervention tools are already commonplace in the self-management of general mental health, and in the clinical care for people with both chronic physical and mental ill-health. This is not surprising given the ubiquitous permeation of digital technologies in most people’s lives in the developed world today. Policy makers have also recognised the need to leverage digital technologies in public health system for improving the health system.

Despite the possibility of effective, implementable digital tools, it is unwise to dismiss the potential risks of digital interventions. The concerns regarding privacy and confidentiality regarding digital media also extend to digital health interventions.

Many are also concerned about the harmful impacts of digital technologies, especially among adolescents, and the risks of entrenching their screen use by offering digital modalities of care. This is not surprising given the increasing complexity of artificial intelligence systems driving commercial digital media. Given the emerging data on the risk of mental ill-health from the use of social media, it is vital to monitor risks for each patient and at a population level with further research.

Reviews of mobile mental health apps have found that the majority of commercially available apps do not include a privacy policy or terms of agreement, the reading level of existing written policies is frequently inaccessible to the general population and many of the existing privacy policies state that users’ information may be shared with third parties

Digital Mental Health that include human support are often more effective than self-guided or automated treatments. As the world continues to struggle with crises and accessibility, a number and variety of mental health tech solutions arises. This may just be the beginning of a new chapter in exciting new mental health tech solutions and challenges.