Claudia Martínez and Imogen Farhan report 2019; highlighted the importance and how using data-driven technology can indeed transform mental healthcare.
Mental healthcare is undergoing a “digital revolution.” The booming market for mental health apps is the most visible aspect of this transformation, and testament to the public appetite for data-driven mental health support. Despite known gaps in evidence regarding their effectiveness, there are now upwards of 10,000 apps available to download, with one of the most popular apps boasting over 45 million downloads.
In order to take full advantage of the advances in data-driven technology to improve mental healthcare, the NHS must “walk before it runs.” While the opportunities offered by mental health apps represent the public face of the digital mental health revolution, the value of data-driven technologies in mental healthcare in fact extends far beyond this. By opening up new types of data collection and analysis, data-driven technologies present opportunities to advance understanding of the causes of mental illness, improve detection and diagnosis, and help redesign services around the needs of patients.
It’s no secret that working life can be stressful. Whether it’s running to catch the train in time in the morning, dealing with a crisis at work or having to juggle personal commitments on top of it all; the 40-hour work week can leave you feeling quite drained by the time the weekend is in sight.
A recent survey by management consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed just how bad the strain on modern professionals is. The firm interviewed 2,000 UK workers both in junior and senior roles, and concluded that as much as one third of the UK workforce may be struggling with some kind of mental health issue. Stress, anxiety and depression were among the most commonly cited problems.
Researchers noted an inability to switch off as a reason why so many professionals are struggling. The incessant buzzing of mobile phones and the checking of emails and returning of calls that extends far after working hours upsets work-life balance, leaving people unable to detach themselves from the pressures of work.
This is where mindfulness comes in.
Mindfulness is essentially a type of meditation in which you focus your mind on the here and now, becoming more aware of your surroundings and the thoughts and feelings of that exact moment. It’s about taking a step back from any worries about the past or the future.
It can be practised in a number of ways: by focussing on your breathing or becoming more aware of your body by carefully examining the different sensations you’re experiencing. Yoga and tai-chi are also great ways to practise mindfulness.
More than just a way of finding your inner calm, mindfulness has been proven to have a positive effect on mental health conditions like anxiety, stress and depression. A 2016 study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, which studied the stress levels of 35 job seekers, found that after just three days of practising mindfulness their brain activity had changed: The subjects started showing increased activity in those parts of the brain dedicated to processing stress and calmness.
So if your job is causing your stress levels to surge, it might be time to give mindfulness a go. To start out, simply try it for 5 to 10 minutes, repeating the process each day for the best results. Afterwards, reflect on how you feel. It’s all about figuring out the techniques that work for you.
“If we start being honest about our pain, our anger, and our shortcomings instead of pretending they don’t exist, then maybe we’ll leave the world a better place than we found it.” – Russell Wilson
Almost all people affected by emergencies will experience psychological distress, which for most people will improve over time.
Among people who have experienced war or other conflict in the previous 10 years, one in 11 (9%) will have a moderate or severe mental disorder.
One person in five (22%) living in an area affected by conflict is estimated to have depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
Depression tends to be more common among women than men.
Depression and anxiety become more common as people get older.
People with severe mental disorders are especially vulnerable during emergencies and need access to mental health care and other basic needs.
International guidelines recommend services at a number of levels ̶ from basic services to clinical care ̶ and indicate that mental health care needs to be made available immediately for specific, urgent mental health problems as part of the health response.
Despite their tragic nature and adverse effects on mental health, emergencies have shown to be opportunities to build sustainable mental health systems for all people in need.
“Health does not always come from medicine. Most of the time. It comes from peace of mind, peace in the heart, peace in the soul. It comes from laughter and love.” – Healthyplace.com
One of the key issues online and in the modern world, is the ability for organisations, including sales and marketing departments, advertising companies and serious organised crime, to use data aggregation and data mining.
Aggregation is the compilation of individual items of data, databases or datasets to form large datasets, e.g. bringing together social media accounts, internet searches, shopping preferences, emails and even dark web data for millions of people.
Data mining is taking a large dataset and using tools to search for particular words or phrases, then refining the search with combined search terms to find individual records of interest.
‘Organised crime, terrorist organisations, investigative journalists and private investigators can all use data sources on the internet and data mining tools to find and target people and groups.’
Spam, adware and marketing
Online marketing can be aggressive and unwanted. We are all victims of spam, adware and other unwelcome methods of trying to separate us from our money. Most online targeted marketing is far better than blanket marketing and can actually be very useful. However, to achieve this, advertising organisations need to track and hold a significant amount of information about users and their preferences. Some of this can be personal, such as age and location.
When companies are tracking spending profiles and the types of products people buy, this can become very sensitive. Basically, marketeers are gathering (aggregating) huge amounts of information and then mining this for marketing purposes. However, this data can also be misused for nefarious purposes in the wrong hands.
In Europe, there are laws to protect the public from aggressive marketing, invasion of privacy and to ensure data protection, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 8. These laws cover the type of data that is held and ensure it is properly protected and- to a certain extent- not misused. But this only applies to reputable companies and those in jurisdictions covered by such laws.
Organised criminals do it, too
The same capability is available to organised crime, which is a wholly different and much more serious problem, as the laws do not apply. Between law-abiding professional organisations and organised crime, there is a spectrum of organisations ranging from slightly intrusive targeted marketing, to malicious code authors who install adware on devices which replaces official adverts with fake ones.
This is one major area of data mining and the one most people think of – but it is not the only one. Organised crime, terrorist organisations, investigative journalists and private investigators can all use data sources on the internet and data mining tools to find and target people and groups. It is amazing to consider what is now achievable; even small snippets of information can be used as keys in different databases that yield further information, which in turn can be used as search keys in other databases.
Being aggressive
Given large aggregated data sets and the right search terms, it’s possible to find a lot of information about people, including information that could otherwise be considered confidential: from medical to marital.
In oppressive regimes, these tools can be used to suppress human rights. For example, finding a posting on a news group that goes against a regime, using the IP address to find the service provider, then the credit card details to find the individual poster and track them down – even though they thought their post was anonymous. The trouble is, not all organisations do a good job of protecting their data. Worse still, individuals are very bad at protecting their own information. One aspect of preventing data mining is helping the naïve to protect themselves: parents, extended family, friends and children often do not understand the implications of giving out sensitive personal information, such as the kind posted on social media. Something like posting a holiday photo to Facebook may be all that is needed to indicate to a criminal that a person is not at home. Then, the metadata from a picture of that person’s recent BBQ can be used to find out the exact location of the currently empty house…
‘A short CV with an email address and note that a full version is available on request is all that is needed on job sites.’
Protecting the vulnerable
One of the most important aspects is making people aware that they are sharing their lives – not just with friends and family, but also with anyone that has a good search engine – from marketeers to organised criminals. This is especially true when social media sites change their terms and conditions and open up privacy settings. Suddenly, the site might now ‘own all photographs posted on xxxx’. Some may also remove privacy settings, exposing users’ information until they notice and update their privacy controls again.
Millions of people still do not realise that their information is public. Even simple things like putting too much detail in a CV uploaded to job sites can be a bad thing. It does not take much for a criminal to open an account as a potential employer and browse CVs, which can include full names, addresses, contact details and so on; or for your boss to find out you are looking for a new job.
Be very careful about what you share
It is vital that people think carefully about what information they are putting on the internet and why.
A short CV with an email address and note that a full version is available on request is all that is needed on job sites. Searching for medical websites and certain information should be done with caution, including ensuring the browser is set to ‘do not track’. If possible, use a different web browser type for sensitive sites, one that does not share cookies or cache with the main browser, and preferably uses a VPN via another country.
Practical steps can also be taken when looking after computers for children and family members (who may be adults new to the internet). It is best to ensure that their computer has a full internet security package, which includes parental controls. This can be configured for them, preventing personal information from being exposed and blocking access to blacklisted websites. Though this will not solve every issue, it will certainly help to protect the less aware.
Power to the criminals
As storage gets cheaper, processing power increases exponentially and the internet becomes more pervasive in everyone’s lives, the data mining issue will just get worse. Criminals are going to follow the money online; they are going to target people for identity theft, blackmail and worse. Private investigators and investigative journalists are going to use these massive data sources to their benefit, and marketing will become even more accurate and targeted – even down to exact current location.
However, this does not have to be as bad as it sounds: fear, uncertainty and doubt can be just as bad, as they prevent people from making full use of the advantages offered by the internet. Simple tricks can help, such as never using the same password across multiple sites and instead using a formula that’s easy to remember, like ‘company+constant’, e.g. eBay!771492, for eBay and Amazon!771492, for Amazon.
Finally, accurate data shouldn’t be given to websites unless it is for official purposes, such as for government or banks. It’s amazing how many sites will ask for a date of birth and mother’s maiden name, so even changing a DOB by a couple of days on these sites will stop it being misused.
If personal data is protected online as it would be in the real world, and personal data exposure and storage on third party databases is minimised, the internet can be enjoyed with low risk.
What you’ll learn: What is Data classification? Why do classification at all? Different types of classification (and what’s right for you) How classification helps achieve (GDPR) compliance Practical steps you can take – TODAY
As part of the Mental Health Foundation’s 70th anniversary, we have commissioned three reports, each looking at a different stage in life and the key things that both challenge and support mental health at these stages.
This is the first of these three reports, focused on children and young people. It is intended both as a review of the recent evidence, and as a guide to anyone wishing to gain a rapid understanding of a preventative approach to mental health.
Mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression, can happen at any age. However, childhood and young adulthood represents a particularly important time for development and mental health. By understanding the things that can challenge good mental health, as well as the things that can protect and promote it, we can introduce policies and services that support children and young people to reach their full potential, preventing mental health difficulties from progressing to the point where it becomes difficult to cope.
Children and young people’s early life experiences, the areas they live in, the process of navigating and exploring their identity, and the pressures they experience as they leave school and enter the workplace can all be issues posing risks to good mental health. By contrast, having supportive families, friends and communities; the skills to understand, talk about and manage challenging feelings; adults to turn to that understand how they feel; and accessible and effective support if problems start to become overwhelming are key things that can promote and protect good mental health from childhood into young adulthood and beyond.
Over 1 in 5 young adults (21%) say that the main place where they live has a negative effect on their mental health.
Based on the research and the suggestions of our Youth Advisory Panel, to support good mental health and prevent the development of mental health problems, we should:
Provide resources to parents and caregivers (parenting programmes, education, employment and housing resources) that help them to be consistent sources of support for their children.
Ensure that as part of their education, children are equipped with the skills they need to understand, talk about and manage challenging feelings.
Embed the teaching of skills that support good mental health into the curriculum and into youth work and other young-person focused organisations.
Ensure that effective early support is available for young people’s mental health that considers young people’s views on what makes that support acceptable and accessible.
Enable community leaders to bridge the gap between communities and local government and make sure people have a choice and a voice in deciding what their area needs to support good mental health.
These factors become even more urgent when we consider the findings of an online survey (of 2,522 UK young adults aged 16-25) we conducted at the Mental Health Foundation with YouGov in August of 2019, which showed that over 1 in 5 young adults (21%) say that the main place where they live has a negative effect on their mental health, only 54% of young adults feel they are able to speak about their emotions with others, a quarter of young adults say they “often” feel they lack companionship (25%), and just under 1 in 7 young adults (14%) say they do not feel they have a trusted adult to go to for advice and support if they are experiencing a problem (e.g. financial, mental health etc.).
Just under 1 in 7 young adults (14%) say they do not feel they have a trusted adult to go to for advice and support if they are experiencing a problem.
In our increasingly interconnected world, the relationship between Mental Health and technology continues to evolve. Technology has undoubtedly made it easier to access pertinent Information and obtain resources for Mental health education, awareness and even treatment.
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