Top digital solutions for teen mental health

Mental health is an important part of the overall healthy life among the children and teenagers. In the digital age, there are various types of digital healthcare solutions for the teenagers so that they can have the best of their health. There are e-Therapies which are helpful for treating depression, anxiety, eating disorders and substance abuse.

In a report, American College Health Association found that the percentage of students suffering from anxiety has increased from 50% in 2011 to 62% in 2016. In another report concluded from the large national surveys, it was found that depression and anxiety among the adolescent have increased to about 25 percent in the past 25 years.

Need of mental health apps for teenagers

There has been an increase in the number of teenagers or adolescents suffering from severe mental health conditions. 20% of the children between the age of 13 and 18 years live with the mental health conditions. Out of them, 8% have the anxiety disorder, 10% have behavioural disorder while 11% have the mood disorders. These percentages are actually more than the figures mentioned here because sometimes, some of the cases go unnoticed.

If you consider the present trend, you will find that the teenagers nowadays are highly adaptive to the fast pace technology. They have to perform a lot of job on a daily basis. They have to complete their school homework, update their social media account and worry about their career, sexism etc. Along with these, they also need to update everything online on the daily basis to keep up their social images.

All these things make them exhausted at the end of the day and they feel depressed, frustrated, anxious and stressed.

This makes them prone to numerous mental health problems thus underlining the importance of mental health apps in today’s world.

Reasons behind their declining mental health

About 20 to 30 percent of adults are suffering from at least one type of mental health issue before they reach their adulthood. Some of the most common reasons behind the declining mental health include:

• The improper functioning of the neurotransmitter can lead to a depressive condition
• Hormonal changes
• Learned negative thinking from the parents
• Personality traits inherited from the parents
• Physical or verbal abuse trauma
• Cognitive learning problems
• Peer pressure
• Increased level of competitiveness
• Failure in maintaining an effective social stature

Mobile apps playing the role of counsellor

Addressing mental health issues in teenagers has become an important concern for getting the healthy and mentally strong future population. E-Therapies and digital innovations have improved a lot in the past few years.

The electronic interventions are the therapeutic approach which is helpful in treating depression, anxiety, stress and other types of mental illnesses.

Smartphone apps are the best way to help the teenagers to improve their mental health conditions. Various types of apps like Ära tee!, BoosterBuddy, Anxiety Coach, Breathe2Relax are popular among the teenagers for improving their health digitally.

10 Innovative digital solutions for teen mental health

1. Online self-help: A lot of teenagers are there who are not comfortable in discussing the mental health issues they are going through. Thus, they find online solutions on their own. They browse on the different websites for seeking detailed information about different types of symptom they are suffering from. They look for the online self-management guide like ACT for Youth, Head to Health, ReachOut.com, The Lowdown NZ and Teenline for getting the best solutions.
2. E-therapies: There are mental health care programs which offer online intervention to the teenagers suffering from mental issues. Cognitive behavioural therapy is the most common types of therapy that is conducted online. Other programs include COPE Program, FutureLearn, Happify.
3. YOURDost: This is the digital platform that was started by an IITian, Richa Singh from India in 2014. It is an emotional wellness platform which allows the teenagers to connect with the life coaches, psychologists or psychiatrists for seeking mental counselling.
4. QLeva: It is the innovative web-based learning tool that helps the children and adolescent for preserving their mental health. It helps the children to maintain a healthy lifestyle through following the right habits, proper healthy diet and taking proper rests. With the help of this tool, the children learn about stress-reducing tips and how they can promote the physical, mental and emotional health.
5. Brain PoDr: Dr. Vahabdadeh started Brain Power which is a neurotechnology company. It offers smart glass solution for the children suffering from autism. It is also helpful to the children in recovering from the severe brain injuries.
6. MindShift: It is an interactive mental healthcare solution which is especially for the teens with anxiety. It helps in avoiding anxious feelings. This app fills you with new energy and helps you to take charge of your life, face challenging situations of life.
7. Code blue: It is a simple app by Social Code that is helpful for the teenagers suffering from depression. The user can select the support crew for seeking immediate support from them. The support can be accessed through a phone call, text and showing up.
8. Optimism: It is the iOS app that allows the teens to monitor their mood. It asks for rating your mood, sleep, medicines taken etc. It also helps you to track the stay-well strategies and mark on those which hurts your mood.
9. Deep Sleep: This app is launched by Andrew Johnson that provides the guided meditation to the teens. There are various causes that prevent the teens to sleep peacefully. This app is helpful for the teenagers who face stilling of their minds.
10. MoodMeter: It is an innovative mental health app for the teenagers to monitor their mood. It helps in expanding your emotional vocabulary, getting an insight of your inner life and reminding you to check your feelings daily for developing your emotional intelligence.

Can digital solutions actually solve the teen mental crisis?

Telehealth and telemedicine have paved the new ways for getting better mental health. In the present time, teenagers have the accessibility to internet and smartphone so it is easier for them to get close to telehealth and telemedicine. Diversified ways are there for the delivery of mental healthcare services, parenting support services and making ways for the early healthcare interventions.

Web based self-guided programs, video teleconferencing, text counseling and e-therapies are helpful in treating depression and anxiety in the teens.

These are also helpful in treating behavioural problems through digital inventions. Technology helps in providing assistance in the development of the tool. Telepsychiatry has also emerged as the beneficial digital platform for getting psychiatric assistance for the teenager. Easy accessibility of the digital solutions to the teens has provided them with quality mental health care and personalized attention.