Digital assist: Embracing virtual strength for mental health

In this digital period, expertise is irrevocably embedded in our every day lives, and as such, our on-line experiences have an outsized affect on our mental health. However, expertise also can supply assist for the promotion and nurturing of our mental well-being.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have develop into ingrained in our every day routines, permitting us to attach with others, share tales, and categorical ourselves. However, common utilization of social media also can result in elevated charges of tension and melancholy, significantly in younger folks.

But the web transcends this dichotomy, and also can supply assets and digital assist to higher perceive mental health situations and get assist for them. 

A more in-depth have a look at the connection between our digital lives, and our mental health can reveal plenty of methods to benefit from the assets digital assist affords to nurture our mental well-being.

Understanding digital assist

Digital assist for mental health contains a spread of assets and platforms that leverage expertise to supply help for mental health points. This contains idea on-line remedy platforms, virtual communities, chatbots, movies, and articles.

Digital assist for mental health offers some form of anonymity, permitting people to hunt assist with out the concern of being judged. It additionally facilitates connections with numerous assist networks, enabling people to attach with others who perceive and share comparable experiences. Additionally, with round the clock availability, digital assist for mental health ensures that people can all the time entry assist once they want it. 

Although digital mental health assist isn’t a alternative for conventional remedy, it combines expertise and human interplay to supply accessible, informative, and sensible help to people looking for mental health assist.

The affect of social media on mental health

Nigeria’s mental health system faces quite a few challenges and gaps, particularly in native communities. There is a lack of knowledge and understanding, which ends up in stigma and discrimination. This worsens current points and creates obstacles to accessing high quality care. Statistics present that 80% of Nigerians with mental health wants can’t entry care as a result of societal attitudes towards mental sickness and a scarcity of acceptable assets, services, and mental health workers.

Hauwa Ojeifo, an authorized integrative mental health coach and activist, and the founding father of She Writes Woman and Safe Place Nigeria shed some gentle on the challenges surrounding the utilisation of social media for mental health assist and interventions. In a dialog with TechCabal, she defined that not everybody with a cell gadget has entry to digital areas. “We have to recognise that whilst mobile phone penetration in Nigeria can seem quite high, internet penetration is not as high as we think,” she instructed TechCabal.

“So as much as we are using social media or digital media as opportunities to spread mental health awareness, to provide accurate information and knowledge around mental health, and to provide some sort of first aid, we have to recognise that we’re actually not reaching the furthest behind first. We’re not reaching, perhaps most of the grassroots, and the people who may not actually have the privilege, access, or orientation to be able to navigate the digital space,” Ojeifo concluded.

Nonye Ukwuoma, a licensed medical psychologist, psychotherapist, and founder and lead marketing consultant at 360 Psyche, believes that social media may also be used to unfold misinformation about mental health in addition to foster mental health challenges. “Social media can promote misinformation about mental health and encourage unreliable sources. Social media creates its own mental health challenge such as cyberbullying, even within the space where people come to seek support. I have seen spaces on social media that should be considered ‘safe’, but they didn’t look safe because the suggestions offered as support can be outrightly or silently unhealthy for mental health,” Ukwuoma defined.

However, Ojeifo is optimistic concerning the assist digital entry offers for people dealing with mental health challenges. She provides that the entry performs a vital function in bridging gaps. “I would say there’s been a lot of upsides to digital support, it means that we don’t have to be in physical proximity to mental health support before we can access it, and we can also get a network of community. And I think that’s something that is largely underestimated in the mental health recovery process, especially on this side of the world,” she stated. “The digital space offers us an opportunity to connect with people just like us going through similar challenges, but also see what is working for other people and try to use that for ourselves. Having these sorts of interventions plug the gaps is very, very helpful in moving the needle forward.”

Sharing in Ojeifo’s optimism about digital assist, Ukwuoma believes that face-to-face interplay isn’t all the time crucial, and digital assist strategies will  permit professionals to prioritise pressing mental health wants and finally result in improved outcomes for shoppers. “We are a global village and one of the things we now know is that we do not have to see face-to-face. When I started practising, it seemed almost alien that we would help a client when they were not physically present.” she stated. “This sometimes stretches a treatment plan that may eventually affect the prognosis. Currently, most organisations including 360 Psyche, encourage and prioritise digital support. Clients get support via phone calls, emails, chats, and video calls, among others. This gives time to focus on more pressing mental health needs, which translates to a better prognosis for clients.”

Arinze, an lively participant in a web based mental health consciousness group known as Omhac, shared his views concerning the optimistic affect of digital platforms and the way Omhac has enriched his understanding of mental health. In becoming a member of the net group, his intention was to realize extra data on mental health. “I find it very easy to connect and interact with people in the group, and I’ve increased my knowledge of mental health. I’ve learned more about different techniques when combating mental health illnesses, and I have a general knowledge about how some of these things affect our day-to-day lives and the people that are close to us,” Arinze stated.

He additionally expressed how useful and supportive the net group has been. “I find their Twitter spaces very, very helpful. They host it once a month and they invite other speakers to come to share their thoughts or educate us further on things that relate to mental health. The group is very heavy on teamwork, everybody always wants to help in one way or another, and it has helped me out with my anxiety. I now know better in dealing with it and how not to let it overwhelm me sometimes. I would 100% recommend it to people who are looking for online mental health support groups because it is easy to access and it is very, very enlightening.”

Exploring and embracing digital assist

According to Ojeifo, extra folks must embrace the concept of digital assist, because of the absence of community-based mental health providers in Nigeria and the restricted give attention to mental health on the nationwide degree. “We’re in Nigeria, where some statistics show that there are just 300 psychiatrists, in a population of over 200 million Nigerians. So you can see that that is a stark statistic. That is data that is probably not going to close in another 10 to 20 years,” she stated. “We’re looking at a country where there is barely any sort of community-based mental health care services that can reach the population of the grassroots, where mental health is not particularly yet at the forefront of the healthcare agenda, public health agenda, disability agenda, or even orientation agenda in the country. And so what that means is that, more often than not, or more likely than not, you would need to engage with the support that is not provided by the system itself. That is state-owned facilities and things like that.”

Ukwuoma echoed her sentiments selling digital assist for mental health, citing the comfort and sense of belonging that digital assist affords as promoting factors. “More people should embrace digital support as it provides individuals with the opportunity to seek support and information from the comfort of their own homes, at any time that is convenient for them. Online communities, forums, and support groups provide a sense of belonging and support, allowing individuals to share their stories, exchange advice, and find solace in knowing they are not alone. A part of our brain that promotes wellness is activated when we know we are not alone,” Ukwuoma defined. 

Ojeifo believes {that a} important contributor to the success of her organisation, She Writes Woman, is the truth that it’s composed of people who’ve personally skilled mental health situations. “I believe the one thing that we’ve done over the years, something that works great for us is first, the fact that we are an organisation of people with mental health conditions,” Ojeifo stated.

“I believe one of the things that make digital platforms trustworthy and makes people engage with them perhaps a bit more closely than others, is knowing that the people on the other side are people like me. And for us, that has been a distinguishing factor. It’s recognising that people know that, oh, my therapist might also be somebody who lives with a mental health condition, or at least I know this organisation speaks from the point of view of people like me.” she added.

Ukwuoma additionally emphasised the importance of digital assist platforms having a educated skilled to watch and supply streamlined assist. “It’s important to have a monitoring person or persons. People get more streamlined support when the support is monitored by a person trained in mental health and emotional support. It’s important to set enforceable boundaries and there should be an opportunity for online members to seek help from a licensed professional through secure and private channels digitally. Not all forms of help can be gotten from online communities and 24/7 online support is important because it offers people an opportunity to get help promptly,” she defined.

Ojeifo addressed the potential unfavourable affect of social media on mental health and gave methods or tips that people can observe to navigate these challenges. She means that it’s important for people to acknowledge and acknowledge that they don’t seem to be superior to the instruments they use, because it units the inspiration for making crucial changes. “Whether we like it or not, there are immense negative effects of social media. In the science of social media, there’s a psychology to it. It’s understanding human behaviour, understanding buyer behaviour, understanding consumer economics and consumer psychology,” she instructed TechCabal.

“I generally tell people, the first thing to do is to acknowledge that we’re not more powerful than these tools because that also sets the ground for how we can begin to adjust. We have a certain kind of internal arrogance when we think we’re more powerful than the tools. Yes, they are just tools and it depends on how you use them, but it’s also recognising that these tools have been carefully curated, to actually pick on our flaws as human beings, or at least the neurobiology or neuroscience that we are all governed by,” she added.

Ukwuoma additionally highlighted the significance of setting agency boundaries when navigating social media. Her reasoning was that since it’s not attainable to regulate how folks behave on social media, it is very important minimise the potential for cyberbullying and on-line harassment.  “The truth is, we really can’t dictate how people will act or react on social media, and we need to accept that. Setting boundaries helps protect your privacy and reduces the risk of cyberbullying or online harassment. Develop a critical mindset when consuming content on social media, and question the accuracy and reliability of information before accepting it as truth. Verify sources, fact-check information, and be cautious of misinformation or sensationalised content that can contribute to anxiety or fear,” she stated.

Emerging traits within the mental health area

In the ultimate phases of our dialogue, Ojeifo highlighted AI and telemedicine as some applied sciences she discovered significantly promising however raised issues about their attainable unfavourable penalties. “AI and telemedicine are two massive rising traits that we see within the area. But I’m a bit extra cautiously optimistic that while they could seem to be very promising instruments within the quick time period, I fear concerning the attainable downsides. If the appropriate rules and safeguarding should not in place, and if they’re ruled by the identical capitalist ideologies that we use to create different apps like social media apps, the place we’re taking a look at a revenue over the individual that is utilizing it.“

Ukwuoma described AI-powered chatbots as attention-grabbing, highlighting her fascination with the usage of machine studying and synthetic intelligence to supply emotional assist. “A few years back, I watched a program where a person was receiving emotional support from a bot powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, and I was wowed. Consistently, we have seen robots help people cope with loneliness, stress, and special educational needs, among others. While some may argue that this may outrun mental health professionals, I personally think it will help bridge treatment gaps.” she stated.

“An emerging technology I find particularly interesting is the AI-powered chatbots, dedicated to emotional support. It is mind-blowing. This will help more people, while we can focus more on fewer, more time-needing situations,” Ukwuoma concluded.

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