Challenge ahead: Harnessing technology for good mental health
Making technology an ally in mental health care (Fundación Innovación Bankinter):
Interest in using technology for mental health dates back to the mid twentieth century. “Studies began back in the 1960s, given the growing concern about addiction in children (especially) and adults,” clarifies Álvaro Fernández Ibáñez about the beginning of this discipline.
Sesame Street, the well-known American show, is a project that developed to “master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them“, in the words of its producers. As Fernández Ibáñez points out, these programs appeared to “channe...
Source: SharpBrains - February 25, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Fundación Innovación Bankinter Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation cognitive and mental health Internet mental health care Neurotechnology non-invasive neurotechnology pervasive Pervasive Neurotechnology Sesame Street social networks Source Type: blogs
Wearable EEG monitoring start-up Epitel raises $12.5M to market seizure detection system
Epitel raises $12.5M for wearable seizure detection system (MobiHealth News):
Epitel, maker of a wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) system for seizure detection, announced Wednesday it had scored $12.5 million in Series A funding.
The round was led by Catalyst Health Ventures (CHV) and Genoa Ventures, with participation from Dexcom, OSF Ventures, Wavemaker 360, MedMountain Ventures and Salt Lake City Angels … The company’s first product, the REMI system, consists of a wearable, wireless EEG sensor that’s applied below the hairline, and software for providers to review data and monitor for seizures. The sensor can co...
Source: SharpBrains - February 22, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation digital brain health digital health Epitel FDA FDA 510(k) clearance REMI seizure detection wearable EEG wearable electroencephalogram Source Type: blogs
Computer-assisted cognitive behavior therapy (CCBT) may outperform Treatment as Usual (TAU) in helping patients reduce depression, improve 6 ‑month remission rates
Conclusions: The findings of this randomized clinical trial suggest that CCBT with a modest amount of clinician support has potential for wider-spread implementation as an effective, acceptable, and efficient treatment for depression in primary care. The method of CCBT described here may be useful in primary care patients with depression who have low levels of income, education, or reading proficiency as well as in those who lack internet access.
The Study in Context:
CVS Health: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) apps may help you more than sleeping pills
FDA clears first CBT-based digital therapeutic to treat substance...
Source: SharpBrains - February 16, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation antidepressants cCBT computer-assisted cognitive behavior therapy depression depressive symptoms Good Days Ahead Patient Health Questionnaire–9 PHQ-9 primary-care Psychotherapy Source Type: blogs
On neuroplasticity, young brains, and smartphones
Neuroplasticity and Smart Phones (Psychiatric Times):
In medical school, I was taught that the brain is hardwired at birth. During the past 30 years, neuroscience has definitively shown that this is not the case at all. As our understanding of brain development advanced, it became clear that, during the first 3 years of life, neurons in the brain prolifically form synaptic connections to be prepared for many diverse functional tasks, most of which it will never encounter. From aged 3 years onward, the circuits frequently used strengthen their connections while those serving no function are pruned away. Hence the common phr...
Source: SharpBrains - February 14, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation brain-development cognitive neuroplasticity neuroscience smart phones smartphones synaptic connections Source Type: blogs
Exploring links between hearing loss, dementia and the ‘cognitive reserve’ — plus the role of hearing aids
How does your hearing affect dementia risk? (Alzheimer’s Research UK):
With around 1 million people affected by dementia in the UK, and 12 million people estimated to have a type of hearing loss, it’s never been more important to understand this link.
One way that hearing loss and dementia could be linked is through our blood system.
Certain types of dementia, particularly vascular dementia, are caused when there is less blood flow reaching the brain. This can damage our brain cells. Recent studies have also shown that the parts of our brain that process sounds (our auditory system) have many blood vessels and are vuln...
Source: SharpBrains - February 10, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Alzheimer’s cognitive-reserve dementia hearing aids hearing loss vascular dementia Source Type: blogs
Q & A with Dr. Wendy Suzuki on the parasympathetic nervous system and harnessing anxiety for good
Anxiety can feel like a heavy weight that we didn’t ask to carry. Who wouldn’t love to get rid of it?
But neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki wants to challenge the way we look at our anxiety. In fact, her new book is called Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion.
If you’re skeptical, so was I. But Suzuki’s point is that anxiety is a natural human emotion, one that evolved to serve a purpose. We feel anxious when there is some kind of danger; it primes our body to fight or flee from that danger, in hopes that we’ll end up better off (i.e., alive). In the same way, our modern anxieties can be...
Source: SharpBrains - February 7, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greater Good Science Center Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning anxiety chronic-stress deep breathing hippocampus human emotion neuroscientist parasympathetic nervous system prefrontal-cortex Stress Response uncertainty Source Type: blogs
Otsuka and Virtual Reality start-up Jolly Good sign $43M deal to promote Social Skills Training (SST) therapies, helping schizophrenia patients first
Jolly Good and Teijin Pharma Form a Partnership to Develop VR Digital Therapeutics for Depression
Otsuka signs on Jolly Good for $43M mental health VR deal (Fierce Biotech):
The duo will build out software—hosted on Jolly Good’s VR goggles and connected tablet devices, and backed by Otsuka’s expertise in developing neurological therapeutics—that takes a social skills training (SST) approach to treating mental illness. SST is a behavioral therapy in which patients with anxiety, mood and personality disorders, among other conditions, are taught on a step-by-step basis how to navigate specific social interactions.
The...
Source: SharpBrains - February 2, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation behavioral-therapy Jolly Good mental illness neurological therapeutics Otsuka pharmaceutical schizophrenia social skills training Source Type: blogs
A few slow-paced breaths are enough to significantly reduce physiological stress
Welcome to a new edition of SharpBrains’ e‑newsletter, sharing important brain & mental health news plus a couple fun brain teasers to test your mental self-rotation skills.
#1. Study: Education and lifestyle helped over a million older Americans avoid serious cognitive problems in 2017
Let’s kickstart 2022 with some good news: “The prevalence of serious cognitive problems in the US population aged 65 and older declined from 12.2% to 10.0% between 2008 and 2017. Had the prevalence remained at the 2008 levels, there would have been an additional 1.13 million older Americans with serious cognitive problems in 201...
Source: SharpBrains - January 31, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health SharpBrains Monthly eNewsletter Technology & Innovation ADHD-medication Akili Interactive APA Big Health Breathing Cognitive Neuroscience cognitive problems consumer technology digital therapeutics Headspace He Source Type: blogs
Digital therapeutics pioneer Akili Interactive plans to go public in mid-2022 at a $1B valuation
Palihapitiya-Led SPAC to Merge With Akili in $1 Billion Deal (Bloomberg):
Akili Interactive, a startup that has developed a video game to help treat attention-deficit disorders in kids, has agreed to go public through a merger with one of Chamath Palihapitiya’s blank-check companies.
The deal, which confirms a Bloomberg News report, values the combined entity at about $1 billion, Akili and Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I said in a statement seen by Bloomberg. It will provide as much as $412 million in gross cash proceeds, the companies said.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Eddie Martucci, Akili has developed the ...
Source: SharpBrains - January 26, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation Akili Interactive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Chamath Palihapitiya cognitive-impairments digital therapeutics EndeavorRx FDA neuropsychiatric neuropsychia Source Type: blogs
Are ADHD medications overprescribed or underprescribed? (Quick answer: both)
Although medication treatment for ADHD has been shown to significantly reduce core ADHD symptoms in hundreds of studies, important concerns remain about it being prescribed inappropriately to children and teens who do not have ADHD. There is also evidence that many youth with ADHD who could potentially benefit from medication treatment do not receive it, and may realize poorer outcomes in as a result.
Estimating the rate of the over- and under-use of ADHD medication is challenging, and a recent study provides the most comprehensive examination to date of this important issue: Assessing under-treatment and over-treatment of...
Source: SharpBrains - January 25, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dr. David Rabiner Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health Source Type: blogs
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing! (Source: SharpBrains)
Source: SharpBrains - January 23, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: cameronbarrett Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Lyra Health, Big Health and Mantra Health raise a combined $332M to commercialize digital therapeutics for mental/ behavioral health
Lyra Health scores $235M and buys employee assistant program ICAS World (MobiHealth News):
Employer-focused digital mental health provider Lyra Health announced a whopping $235 million Series F round led by Dragoneer. Salesforce Ventures and Coatue also participated. This new infusion of cash brings the company’s total raise to over $900 million.
The funding coincided with the news that Lyra Health is acquiring employee-assistant program ICAS World for an undisclosed sum. ICAS was founded in 1987 and provides coaching and counseling services to employees. The service offers phone, face-to-face or web-based treatment.
B...
Source: SharpBrains - January 20, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Uncategorized Behavioral Health Big Health digital therapeutics Lyra Health Mantra Health mental health Source Type: blogs
Headspace Health acquires AI-driven digital mental health start-up Sayana
JPM 2022: Headspace Health grabs startup Sayana to build out AI-based mental health tools (Fierce Healthcare):
Six months after the $3 billion merger with Ginger, Headspace Health acquired Sayana, an AI-driven mental health and wellness company.
Sayana will expand Headspace Health’s ability to provide personalized self-care content to its 100 million users, executives said … Headspace leverages AI to power a significant percentage of the care the company delivers, [Russell Glass, CEO, Headspace Health] said during the JPM conference, including using natural language processing to extract information from the chats, to ...
Source: SharpBrains - January 18, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation acceptance commitment therapy AI-driven mental health breathing exercises cognitive-behavioral-therapy dialectical behavioral therapy digital mental health Ginger Headspace Health Sayana Source Type: blogs
APA: With digital mental health going mainstream, will/ should psychologists be able to “prescribe” interventions?
Mental health, meet venture capital (APA):
Until recently, mental health was a relative blip on the radar of venture capitalists. But over the past few years, and particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, private investors have made a dramatic run for this space, pouring $3.1 billion into mental health ventures by the third quarter of 2021 alone, according to Rock Health, a seed fund that supports startups working in digital health. That represents a third of all digital health funding for 2021, more than 7 times the amount of funding placed in such ventures in 2015.
The reasons for this boom are clear. The pa...
Source: SharpBrains - January 14, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation anxiety APA COVID depression digital mental health FDA FDA-approved insomnia meditation mindfulness prescription Psychology Rock Health substance use trauma venture-capital Source Type: blogs
Study: A few slow-paced breaths are enough to significantly reduce physiological stress
This study is the first to show that taking a few slow, deep breaths in an everyday setting can have a significant effect on a child’s stress physiology,” said the study’s lead author, Jelena Obradovic, an associate professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) and director of the Stanford Project on Adaptation and Resilience in Kids (SPARK Lab). “But just telling children to take a deep breath may not be enough – children need scaffolding. So we’re excited that we can also offer an easy-to-use tool to help kids learn this technique.”
The study, which was coauthored by GSE research associate Michae...
Source: SharpBrains - January 12, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Stanford Graduate School of Education Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning deep breath deep breathing physiological physiological stress response young children Source Type: blogs
