need a therapist? there's an app for that - smart tech

Health care professionals meet at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Center on Thursday to study how to use smart technologies such as mobile phones in healthcare
Especially for remote northern patients.
The speaker is a professor of psychiatry in Seattle, Washington, his BRiTE Center-
Representing behavioral research in the field of technology and engineering
Mobile apps are being developed and tested to help patients with addiction and mental illness.
"Think about a person who may not have any resources, may be very isolated in society, and may even live dozens of miles (if not hundreds of miles) from a local clinic, they can or may not be able to access high-
Evidence of quality
Based on care, "said Dr. Dror Ben-
Zeev, during the first study day break in hospital history.
Smart technology can bring therapists into the pockets of these people, he said.
The BRiTE center has developed a mobile app called Focus to help people manage mental health.
For mental illness, users can ask for help on issues such as mood disorders, auditions, and insomnia.
The app asks them to document their symptoms and provide them with treatment options.
For example, people with anxiety can choose to watch a video in which a therapist guides them to some relaxing breathing exercises.
Apps that are different from online similar services such as relaxation videos and meditation apps, Ben-
Patients can choose to share their usage data with their doctors, which can significantly help doctors improve their treatment, Zeev said.
"Our treatment technology is actually 19 th century technology, and only in this way can we understand what people think, feel and function is to get them to the clinic, report to us how they felt that day or that week, "Ben-Zeev said.
"This is vulnerable to a series of influences.
He said: "requiring people to check in multiple times a day using the mobile app gives a clearer picture of the actual functionality of the patient, which leads to considerable insight.
SMS treatment?
"When we think of people with mental illness, we label them with delusion, assuming they have a fixed, chronic, and unchanging belief in delusion," Ben-Zeevsaid.
"But once we start deploying mobile technology and ask them about the illusion, we will find that this is not the case.
He added: "Using smartphone data, doctors can explore what appears to exacerbate symptoms and tailor treatments accordingly.
Focus is not currently used in markets outside of the research environment, but Ben-
Zeev said that the main purpose of his speech at events such as Thunder Bay Research Day is to inspire people to find solutions in existing technologies.
Such as text messages.
"Interestingly, we found that not only can you establish a therapeutic relationship entirely through the text, but also with in-
"Personal care, patients often think that the relationship is getting better and better," he said . ".
"This is what people can start. . .
Use the mobile devices they already have creatively.