This article is written by Camille Nebout, Master in Finance and Strategy Candidate at Sciences Po Paris. This article has been edited by Nihal Said, Project Officer in Plan International and Apolitical Insider Fellow.

In recent years, the "wellbeing" movement has become increasingly widespread among the young generation. However, despite its popularity, this term is misused and confused with mental health. According to the “What works wellbeing” centre, well-being is the aggregation of several aspects of our lives such as “our own capabilities as individuals; how we feel about ourselves; the quality of the relationships that we have with other people; and our sense of purpose”.

In contrast, mental health is a scientific term that encompasses “the promotion of well-being, the prevention of mental disorders, and the treatment and rehabilitation of people with these disorders”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). When we talk about mental diseases, we’re not only talking about severe forms of diseases such as schizophrenia, bipolarity or obsessive-compulsive disorder; we are also talking about anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, that are more common than most people think. In the course of our life, 1 out of 3 people will experience a mental disorder (WHO) and it is not something to feel ashamed of.

Wellbeing practices are undeniably important for the individual’s wellbeing...but they can become dangerous if they are confused with mental health

The dangers of well-being

To improve well-being, several practices are promoted — particularly via social networks by coaches, influencers, or some experts — such as yoga, meditation, personal development, detox or even “animal meetings to reconnect with nature”! Joking apart, these practices are undeniably important for the individual’s well-being and help to prevent a mental disorder but they can become dangerous, especially if they are confused with mental health. That can occur if people with a mental disorder believe that they can be cured by using wellness practices instead of seeking medical attention. A 14-year old girl suffering from depression should never think that she can heal by meditating and writing three things she is grateful for each day! Unlike well-being, mental health is a medical field that represents a major public issue that must be prioritized in government programs and interventions via the emergence of public-private initiatives.

Understanding mental health

In France, there is a lack of awareness about mental health and related disorders, and it is therefore usually stigmatized: according to the Institut Montaigne, a think-tank, 40% of French people associate mental disorders with madness and 75% of French people think that people with mental disorders represent a danger to society. However, 20% of French people suffer from a mental disorder, which adds up to 12 million people in France, and a staggering 450 million worldwide. Unlike its European neighbours — Denmark, England, Switzerland — France is still using archaic methods of care.

The Covid-19 health crisis has awakened the importance of mental health and has prompted us to rethink the construction and the implementation of public policies in this field. Additionally, the role of new technologies could represent a major opportunity in improving patient mental health care at all the stages: the prevention, the diagnosis and the treatment.

Data analytics technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine learning represent real opportunities to improve patient care

In France, the first symptoms of mental disorders generally appear between 15 and 25 years old, according to Institut Montaigne. However, these are often unknown from the general public and have harmful effects on the individual's quality of life (vascular disorders, psychological suffering).

New frontiers for digital mental health services

For this reason, prevention is extremely important to quickly attend to patients. For this purpose, social networks such as Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat — which already target the population of young people potentially suffering from mental disorders — represent a real opportunity. This is the case, for instance, of the Instagram account "thepsychologymum", created by a clinical psychologist to democratize mental health among the youth, or the patient social network “Carenity” designed to facilitate the exchange of information and break the isolation of patients.

Regarding diagnosis, the e-mental health — which encompasses mental health services via a digital platform (teleconsultation, digital therapy, teleconsulting) — offers real advantages: improving patient care through regular follow-up, access to people living in marginalized areas, reducing health costs and facilitating the practice of health professionals. It’s the case of the French startup “Doctolib” or the Swedish startup “Livi” which offer teleconsultations with multi-specialist doctors who also can dispense a prescription online. However, it is important to highlight that e-mental health cannot, in the long-term, replace the physical care of the patient.

For treatment, data analytics technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine learning represent real opportunities to improve patient care. For instance, the Computational Psychiatry and Neuroimaging groups of IBM Research and several universities have developed AI to predict when the mental disorder occurred to provide adequate treatment. In the American scientific journal "Pharmacology & Therapeutics" a series of 10 reviews have been published on the development of clinical predictive models to predict the effect of a given treatment on a mental disease. This technology allows to adapt the treatment to each patient, which is particularly important in the case of disease such as depression were the effects of treatment vary from one patient to another. From the patient side, technologies can also allow them to be more independent in the monitoring of their treatment, via a connected pill box (Medissimo), or in the effect of medicines via connected objects (BewellConnect).

There are a lot of other health mental technologies that can improve the access and the quality of the services for both the patient and the doctor. This article doesn’t pretend to be exhaustive regarding these technologies, but instead, it’s about asking ourselves: how new technologies can contribute to improving access and quality of mental health services? — Camille Nebout

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