You must know what e-waste is, but have u ever heard of e-health?
There are multiple types of mental illnesses and most of them are very commonly diagnosed. Different cultures have different mental disorders that are extremely prevalent among the group of people who belong to that particular culture. Culture mediates trauma and also impacts the way mental illnesses manifest themselves in different individuals. Not only in the way that mental illnesses manifest themselves, but culture also plays a huge role in the treatment of mental disorders. Mental illness is taboo in most places including India. There can be individual differences that can affect the way mental illnesses are manifested, maintained and treated.
Multiple approaches help in the treatment of mental health. One of them is technology. We live in a world that is slowly being overtaken by technology. Thanks to technology, our lives have so much easier and that too in so many ways. One such way in which technology helps us without us noticing is through the treatment of mental illnesses. The use of technology to treat mental health problems is finally catching more and more attention and is now popularly known as E-health.
E-health is a broad concept. It consists of a combination of digital communication and information that makes it more convenient, easier and faster to support and improve health care in India. Similarly using technology to specifically work toward supporting and improving the minds of people can be called e-mental health. it usually comes in the form of apps and websites that make it convenient for people to access the required mental health-related information from the comfort of their homes. then there is the use of video calls to conduct sessions which makes it convenient for both, the client and the healthcare provider. Technology is also used for various kinds of documentation work like making dossiers, digital registration etc. Let’s dive into more details of it.
There are multiple ways that technology interferes with the manifestation of mental illness in day to day lives of individuals and encourages treatment. There are multiple apps that one can turn to in order to keep a track of their life and also apps that help one connect to others who may be living a life similar to theirs which may result in a friendship. Mobile Mental Health Support need not be very complex and can still be extremely effective. There are multiple types of apps that help individuals upgrade not only their various skills but also the quality of their lives.
‘Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System (MANAS), the platform launched by the Indian government to support the mental well-being of the people of our country, is the perfect example of E-mental health. It was an initiative of the office of the principal scientific advisor of the government of India and developed through the collaboration of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Bengaluru, and the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune.
Technology is emerging to be a great supplement to many of the mental health therapies that have been used for a very long time. Not only through apps but even things like ECT and other medical examination tests play a huge role in the treatment of mental health issues. Often certain mental disorders reach a point wherein therapy alone or even with medication does not really do much and the individual has to get their blood levels checked and may undergo shock therapy wherein they are given tiny tremors which will help them in the treatment of their mental health issues. When e-mental health first became popular, it was mostly for self-help programs but because of that most of the clients never completed their treatment which led to the emergence of online face-to-face sessions.
Technology is now a very crucial part of our everyday life. And with the world more connected than ever before, we have a great opportunity to put technology to its best use which is to improve the physical and mental health of the human race which is facing a mental health crisis right now.
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