New digital platform launched to destigmatize mental health in Arab world

Arab mental health stigma is being addressed through a newly launched digital platform. Houna offers information, resources, and support groups in Arabic to help tackle taboos surrounding the issue. The founder of Houna, Sheikha Majda Al-Sabah, told Arab News that Arabic mental health resources are lacking. Researching anything in Arabic is difficult.

– Houna is a non-profit initiative that cares for mental health and acts like an aggregator and takes all the people that need help in terms of mental health and connects them to people that provide it. she said.

Houna was founded by philanthropist and mental health advocate Al-Sabah with the goal of helping individuals suffering from depression, anxiety, abuse, eating disorders, addictions, or thoughts of suicide. In addition to providing information, Houna can point people to relevant support groups offering live counseling sessions, while also raising awareness of mental health issues.

“We truly believe that support groups are the best way to take care of mental health,” Al-Sabah said.

The platform works on the principles of inclusivity, respect, confidentiality, credibility, and integrity. It provides resources written in Arabic and English for people of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and nationalities in the Middle East. In addition to podcasts, articles, webinars, and online events, the data includes the latest information on mental health disorders, symptoms, and treatments. Houna also offers regular mental health support groups as well as direct access to 150 licensed therapists and medical professionals.

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Forbes names top 10 innovations in 2023 mental health

To come up with a serious overview of the ten innovations in mental health expected in 2023, the French Forbes interviewed seventeen leading experts in digital solutions for mental health. For millions of people concerned around the world, those features are aimed at providing a more precise mental health, one that is more personalized, preventive, and participatory. Here are the findings: 1: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Metaverse. “Particularly used in situations of phobias, post-traumatic stress disorders, addictions, eating disorders, or the need for relaxation, TERVs (therapies by exposure to virtual reality) are democratizing healthcare services, due to efficiency and non-drug approach”. 2: Web3 “The first interest here lies in the protection of health data, in that web3 guarantees control of it to users and patients, unlike web2, which is based on exchanges of flows that can be exploited for commercial purposes”. 3: Connected objects “Portable and ambient, these polymorphic sensors will indeed soon be usable to observe in real time almost all the patient’s parameters and constants in real time and in real life, behavior and environment” 4: Facial recognition “The visual observation of patients during a consultation or during a therapy makes it possible to extract digital markers in addition to conventional biological markers. From their behavior, additional information on the state of mental health of patients is thus deduced”. 5: Voice recognition “The analysis of the patient’s speech and voice (speed, spontaneity, hesitation, etc.) proves to be very useful in helping practitioners to ensure attentive and close monitoring. It is an easy to collect, inexpensive, and non-invasive signal” 6: UX Design “Because the people concerned are going through a difficult period and are looking for support, it is essential that the solutions show a good psychological understanding of the colors, the cognitive load, and that the courses are thought of as real positive routines”.  7: Social Networks “Often singled out for their sometimes harmful effects on mental health, “social media” platforms nevertheless have a major role to play in the democratization and change of perception of certain mental disorders” 8: Medical Neurostimulation “Here, we are talking more specifically about rTMS (Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). This medical therapeutic act aims to modulate the metabolism of certain areas of the brain to improve the symptoms of neuropsychiatric pathologies such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, or neuropathic pain”. 9: Chatbots (or conversational agents) “As soon as chatbots become more sophisticated and use conversational artificial intelligence bricks, their potential is increased tenfold. Natural language processing and generation allow freer and more complex exchanges. Thus, chatbots can serve as first-level psychological support”.  10: Digital therapies or DTX “It is fundamental to specify that they are not destined to be autonomous, but well integrated into a broader care ecosystem”

7 focus areas identified for digital platforms in German healthcare

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USA and Spain to launch a working group on health digitization

Spain and the United States will launch a working group to share experiences and continue working together on health digitization and mental health. The agreement was reached by Dr Carolina Darias, the Spanish Health Minister and Dr Andrea Palm, the Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, in the preparation to the II Summit of G20 Health Ministers, planned to take place in November 2022. Both countries share the interest in the use of new information and communication technologies to strengthen health systems, with focus on data interoperability, data exchange and access to clinical data. The United States and Spain agree on the importance of developing support tools for the most vulnerable, as well as tools for telemedicine in the field of mental health. In addition, at the bilateral meeting, the Spanish minister and the US representative shared insights on health challenges that both countries have face to deal with future health emergencies, Planta Doce reports (link in Spanish).

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