Four Ways In Which Technology Is Improving Mental Health

Mental HealthSeptember 26, 2019

We often hear that technology has negative effects on our mental health. Whether you’re using social media more than you should or if you’re watching too much television, it’s bound to affect you in ways that you don’t really want for yourself. Social media is shown to increase chances of depression in people who overuse it. Due to all of this, technology is generally seen as the ‘enemy’ when it comes to health – both mentally and physically.

However, that doesn’t have to be the case at all. Technology can be used for positive activities which improve your mental health as well. Smartphones and the internet might get a bad reputation due to people misusing them, but if you’re out to improve yourself, there are some priceless tools in technology which could help you achieve your base end. Here are four ways in which you can use technology to make sure that your mental health is doing great!

There Are Numerous Apps Which Can Help

Dealing with mental disorders like depression or anxiety alone can be a really difficult task, and not everyone is lucky enough to have someone to rely on at all times. Smartphone apps are changing this, however. Although there aren’t nearly as many apps for mental health as there are for physical health, it’s still a good thing that the number of users that are accessing mental health apps is growing constantly. There are around 800 apps that people with mental disorders can access so to help deal with and improve. These apps guide the patients through calming actions and let them share their stories with others so that they can feel better eventually.

Online Sources Offer Tons of Guidance and Knowledge

Most of us are so used to simply searching how we can deal with our mental disorders that we never even stop to think of what would happen if this luxury was taken away from us. All the knowledge that we need is at our fingertips, and now, even support groups are available online. More often than not, most people seldom have the time to actually attend any support groups and end up skipping them. However, being able to attend virtually is helping people all over the country gain access to information and support which they otherwise might not have the opportunity to access or attend. A lot of resources become available through this, and a lot of lives are saved and made easier because of it.

Consulting A Professional Over The Phone Helps Save Money and Time

It’s not always easy to visit a professional if you have a busy schedule. Even if you do have the time in your day to pay your psychiatrist a visit, your condition might not be as severe as to warrant one anyway. This is where telehealth, which is just a fancy word for calling your mental health professional on a phone, comes in. Around 74% of employers in the United States planned on providing telehealth to their workers in 2016, and that number has definitely grown since then. Not only does this save money, but it also saves valuable time which frees up psychotherapists so that they can help more people than they would normally be able to do so. Having a video call with your professional can have even better results than a voice call.

Seeing these plus points of technology for mental health should be more than enough to convince you that the effects that your smartphone has on you are determined solely by the actions you take rather than what the phone itself can do to you. If you act responsibly, you can reap some great benefits from it.