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Roughly half of all people suffering from psychiatric and mental health disorders don’t use or cannot be helped by medications!
In a time when many bemoan our healthcare system’s eagerness to prescribe meds for every problem, this week’s episode of Make Sense with Dr. Brian E. Wallace is refreshing. Dr. Brian shares two exciting technology-powered mental health interventions: Calmsie and NeuralPositive. Both are currently in clinical research to prove their medical outcomes.
While these treatments are not available to the public yet, today’s episode is chock full of interesting nuggets and takeaways to help us improve our understanding of mental health and the role technology has in both its causes and solutions.
If you’re new to the mental health conversation, know that pharmaceuticals do not work for every patient. It’s a very painful process for someone suffering from a psychiatric disorder to experiment over months and years to identify which medication works for them. Some come up empty-handed.
If medication isn’t the answer for everyone, what other options are available? There are non-technological interventions like therapy, meditation, and fitness. Perhaps, there are behavioral and habitual adjustments; get more sleep and reduce the use of social media. The latter, of course, has been coming up a lot in the media, particularly as medical costs for kids’ mental health jumped 31% over the last 5 years.
There are many politicians and talking heads jumping to blame social media and the pandemic for the mental health epidemic in the USA. Yet, these are just two of many factors; those include family dynamics, lack of independence, and economic instability. While social media can negatively impact our mental health, the technology isn’t all bad.
Dr. Brian explains this and more in this week’s episode. We also talk:
➡️ Virtual Medical Care, Remote Patient Monitoring, and the use of virtual reality in health care
➡️ Immersive games that create safe spaces for children to open up about their feelings
➡️ “Patented-medical grade” music, and how it can calm your anxiety and detect an upcoming mental health episode.
Reference the full show notes below.
Choice Quote
“We see the [patient’s] status at that moment and then we analyze their previous listening history. Based on the music that they prefer, we put together a similar playlist that can optimize their mental state at that time. We’re also using it to reduce pain. We’re optimizing music’s ability to increase oxytocin in the body…which means it reduces anxiety.”
– Dr. Brian E. Wallace, Chief Medical Officer, NeuralPositive
Buck the media hype cycle. Calm the fear-mongering. Laugh at the inanity of Tech CEO “hero culture.” Be the smartest person in your peer’s LinkedIn feed:
Key Takeaways with Dr. Brian E. Wallace
Here are Dr. Brian’s takes from the segment Crystal Ball: What does the future hold?
- Mellie Chow’s 5-10 year Consumer Trend: “Augmentality: beyond exoskeletons” – the horizon is certainly 6+ years away. He has friends who have been working on embedded chips since 2000, so it’s been a long journey. Dive into Mellie’s Top 10 Consumer Trends here.
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Virtual Care, Remote Monitoring, and VR: Yes, it starts with Telehealth to facilitate access.
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Mental Health will Become the New Annual Physical: It’s more common in the UK and Europe than in the US. Your doctor should be asking you a few questions about your mental health when you go in for your annual physical.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction: Technology-Powered Mental Health Interventions
05:01 Virtual Care and Remote Monitoring in 2024
10:47 Mental Health as the New Annual Physical
20:56 Introduction and Personalized Experience
25:34 Engaging Children in Therapy through Video Bots and Personalized Avatars
29:38 The Role of Technology in Mental Health
43:44 Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations
48:42 Clinical Trials and Future Advancements
52:27 Key Takeaways and Conclusion
Where to find Dr. Brian E. Wallace, MD PhD MBA
Dr. Wallace is an experienced physician and neuroscientist specializing in evidence-based digital mental health apps for depression, anxiety, and compulsive behaviors. He is the Chief Medical Officer of two startups we’ll be discussing today, he also manages clinical research and ensures compliance (we love that)in the digital health sector.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianewallacemd/
Companies: Calmsie.ai and NeuralPositive
Watch Calmsie CEO Marcin Waryszak’s TedX talk, “Gaming Our Way to Children’s Mental Health”
Where to find Lindsay Tabas
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaytabas
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LindsayTLadyEngineer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaytladyengineer
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