- On September 28, Beilock will bring Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy and his six living predecessors to campus to discuss the crisis and explore possible solutions.
- She will create the position of Dartmouth’s first Chief Health and Human Services Officer, reporting directly to her on issues affecting all students, faculty and staff, and overseeing the implementation and evaluation of Baylock’s new mental health strategic plan. Become. The plan includes training more faculty and staff in mental health support and suicide prevention, expanding mental health support, and investing in mentoring programs for students.
- She is seeking to revise Dartmouth’s policy on how much time students miss from class to address mental health issues so that they are not penalized for being absent.
By the time US surgeons declared a mental health crisis in 2021, young women were 51 percent more likely to attempt suicide and report feeling depressed and anxious compared to two years ago The number of young people who did so had doubled. While the pandemic has changed things, the prospects for mental health have already fallen out of our favor over the past decade.
As many experts have rightly pointed out, this is also the period when social media use and mobile device ownership skyrocketed. Currently, 97 percent of Americans own a mobile device, and 72 percent use at least one social media platform. Years before the pandemic increased children’s screen time by 52 percent, psychologist Jean Twenge wrote in The Atlantic that the iGen, those born between 1995 and 2012, were “a lonely and dislocated generation.” He pointed out that the time spent on smartphones has replaced time. -Old youth activities like spending time with friends, going on dates, and even driving.
Twenge is not wrong, nor are many other voices calling for banning smartphones in schools and imposing legal age restrictions on social media access. But what worries me, and what’s getting lost in this conversation, is that some of the most ground-breaking tools emerging to improve mental health care rely on these same platforms. It means that it is. In fact, technology may offer the only viable solution to overcoming the mental health crisis.
As a cognitive scientist and president of Dartmouth College, I have a front row seat to how students are adapting to an increasingly digital world. It’s a way, sometimes dangerously, but also one that could encourage the very thing technology is accused of declining. — including engagement, connection, and mental health. Overcoming the mental health crisis requires meeting kids where they are: on their devices.
One reason we can’t do this without technology is that we simply don’t have enough mental health professionals. Of the 2.7 million American youth who experience severe depression, only about 28 percent receive consistent treatment, and even less among youth of color. Additionally, there are only 14 active child and adolescent psychiatrists for every 100,000 children in the United States, so it’s no wonder so many doctors are left behind.
We are far from having enough health workers. That’s much further than most of us would like to leave our smartphones behind. I’m not advocating denying the addictive nature of technology or its impact on our well-being, but that’s not the whole story. The devices we carry around with us throughout the day capture vast amounts of behavioral data, including physical activity, sleep, and social interactions. Combined, they provide a fairly solid picture of how we think and feel and help fill gaps in caregiving. When it is not practical to meet frequently with the practitioner.
Substance abuse is a contributing factor to the mental health crisis and is largely undertreated, with nearly 90 percent of patients not receiving treatment, leading to underserved communities and stigma discouraging people from treatment. It is an example of the power of technology to provide clinical care when clinical care is not available. The help they need. Lisa Marsh and her team at the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CBTH) created and validated her first FDA-cleared digital therapy for the treatment of opioid addiction. It provides cognitive-behavioral therapy interventions through users’ digital devices and has been helping a variety of things ever since. By lowering the threshold for receiving treatment, smoking cessation rates nearly doubled.
Digital therapeutic tools like the one developed by Marsh are clinically effective software used to screen, diagnose, and treat mental illness, the same digital devices we have quickly come to demonize. It relies on using .
Instead of trying to pry smartphones out of children’s hands, we can introduce them to uncover what is really making them sad. In the midst of the pandemic, Dartmouth College researcher Andrew Campbell is combining cell phone sensing and self-reported mental health data to understand how COVID-19 has affected student behavior and mental health. When we understood the impact of this, we found that students not only felt more stressed and anxious than other students; But they were also more likely to engage in activities that tend to exacerbate poor mental health, such as sleeping less and spending more time on their phones, especially reading pandemic-related news. .
Studies show that college students are especially prone to mental health problems because they tend to exhibit a higher concentration of risky behaviors such as binge drinking, smoking, lack of sleep, increased screen time, and decreased intake of healthy foods. It is known that this is likely to occur. Only through smartphones can data be collected to help analyze what contributes most to the deterioration of mental health and speed up treatment. This is critical at a time when medical supplies are limited and emergency rooms are scrambling to keep up with a surge in young people presenting for behavioral emergencies.
If this sounds invasive, it is because it is, and I would be remiss not to raise the ethical implications that should ensue. Indeed, Marsh points out that privacy considerations are paramount when it comes to digital therapeutics, and that researchers and healthcare professionals have a duty to ensure that users are informed of the full scope of data collection to which they are consenting. There is. Ultimately, the more relevant data we collect to understand how our behaviors contribute to mental health, the better equipped we will be to get to the root of the problem.
For many people, the privacy gained by letting their data speak is worth it. Like it or not, we can’t ignore the fact that today’s youth are struggling to connect and are finding it increasingly difficult to ask for help when they need it most. If we want to end the mental health crisis, we need to make communication easier, not harder. Technology doesn’t just compile data; it also facilitates connections.
When the Surgeon General issued a recommendation in May that the United States was facing an epidemic of loneliness, I knew exactly what he meant. As a university president, the disconnect I have noticed most is in young people’s struggle to communicate with each other when faced with difficult or controversial topics, many of whom are uncomfortable. I choose to completely censor myself rather than risk feeling bad about myself.
Although many people attribute this to technology replacing face-to-face interactions, it is true that today’s youth prefer to communicate digitally. But texting can actually be a powerful tool for connecting with others, especially through difficult experiences, and has been shown to reduce psychological distress. The key to preventing texting (or any use of technology) from becoming harmful is to use it appropriately. For example, rather than texting when you’re surrounded by other people, even if it’s a stranger, until you’re alone and can focus on the person you’re texting. wait. This creates a sense of intimacy.
Similarly, social media can be a tool for emotional well-being and connection when used correctly. For example, online peer groups have been shown to promote improved mental health in people living with serious illness. By sharing personal stories and being open about their coping strategies, participants experienced greater social connection and a sense of belonging. This may outweigh the risks commonly associated with social media.
If we allow ourselves to completely blame texting, social media, and smartphones as the problem, we miss the opportunity to become smarter users of technology. Furthermore, we are missing an opportunity to help them understand that it is okay to not be okay, and that we are here to take that information and support them in the way they choose. .
Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy will be visiting Dartmouth this month with six living U.S. surgeons to discuss how to end the mental health crisis with me and our community. raised important issues. Technology that strengthens our relationships instead of weakening them? ”
The reality is that technology will not determine whether we can overcome the mental health crisis. Adults tasked with looking after children’s mental health can model healthier interactions with technology and harness its power to better understand, diagnose, and treat mental health issues. You have a responsibility to help. Especially since I would go without it otherwise. Instead of condemning these tools, choose to leverage them.
