Tag: mental health

AI and Mental Health

On January 3, 2022

AI and mental health. The two words typically don’t go hand in hand, but as we become more reliant on technology for our mental health healthcare, it’s important to understand AI’s role. In this blog post, we will discuss what artificial intelligence is and how you can use it to improve the lives of those with mental illness.

Mental illness is a broad term that can refer to various disorders, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. These illnesses can be extremely debilitating and often require specialized care. The traditional approach to mental health care has provided counseling or therapy to help the individual manage their condition. However, with the advent of artificial intelligence, there may be new ways for AI to assist in treating mental illness. Here are some possible uses of AI in combatting mental health.

Diagnostics

One potential use for AI in mental health care is diagnostics. With access to large data sets and powerful analytics tools, AI could be used to identify patterns in symptoms indicative of certain disorders. This could allow for earlier diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. In addition, you can use AI to develop personalized treatment plans for patients. By analyzing a patient’s symptoms and medical history, AI could recommend specific therapies that have been shown to be effective for that individual.

Monitoring

Patients with mental illness can often be difficult to track, especially if they are not regularly seeing a doctor. However, with the help of AI, it may be possible to monitor their condition remotely. This could involve using sensors or wearable devices to track heart rate, breathing patterns, and movement. AI could then analyze this data to detect any changes in the patient’s condition. If there is a change, the AI system will notify either the patient or their doctor to take appropriate action.

While there is no doubt that AI can play a significant role in mental health care, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed. One of the biggest concerns is privacy. With so much personal data being collected, it is important to ensure that it is securely stored and accessed only by authorized individuals. Another concern is accuracy. AI systems can make mistakes, so it is important to test them extensively before using them in a clinical setting.

Despite these concerns, there is no doubt that artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize mental health care. With its ability to diagnose disorders earlier, develop personalized treatment plans, and monitor patients remotely, AI could help improve the lives of those with mental illness.

2021 Cyber Security Predictions

By Chika Wonah

On February 15, 2021

In Blockchain, Chika Wonah, Digital, Internet of Things, Technology, Uncategorized

Many corporations have prioritized cyber-security amid the COVID-19 pandemic. PwC’s recent report shows that 96% of managers have changed their cyber-security techniques, and 40% of them claim that their digitization efforts have increased. Correspondingly, IDC anticipates that global security expenditure will increase by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1% during the 2020-2024 prediction period, reaching $174.7 billion in 2024. Similarly, Forrester’s 2021 cyber-security forecasts indicate that funding for cyber-security companies whose headquarters are outside the United States will rise by 20% in 2021. Analysis Mason also predicts that between 2019 and 2025, mobile device security will be the fastest-growing cyber-security category and will reach $13 billion with a CAGR of 17%.

In 2020, breaches became a challenging problem that was difficult to stop. For example, the U.S Depart of Health and Human Services (HHS) Breach Portal shows that in 2020, 436 breaches attacked healthcare organizations, affecting 17.3 million.

Here is a list of predictions that apprehend how cyber-security will advance in 2021:

1. In 2021, 55% of businesses will increase their cyber-security budget allocations, and 51% will hire more full-time cyber staff.

2. In The Next Three Years, the most dominant cyber-security technologies will be the Cloud Workload Protection Platform, Passwordless Authentication, and Posture Management. As Gartner’s Impact Radar for Security framework indicates, the Zero Trust Networking will have a significant impact within a period of one to three years.

3. Security services will be the fastest and largest growing security market sector, occupying half of the security budget meant for the 2020-2024 prediction period. The segment will also attain a CAGR of 10.5% in five years.

By 2021, cyber-security IT spending will reach a CAGR of 12% due to the drastic increase in cybercrimes, such as breaches, endpoint security attacks, phishing, and privilege access credential abuse.

Intellectual Property will be cyber criminals’ target in 2021.
The global cyber-security expenditure for small and medium-sized businesses will increase by 10% CAGR between 2019 and 2024, making this segment an $80 billion industry in four years.

4. Business cybersecurity spending will grow at a higher rate in four major industries- healthcare services and systems, financial and banking, technology and media, and social and public segments.

5. Improvements in AI and machine learning will contribute to 80% of devices’ capability to self-secure-and-heal, enabling IT to implement policies and remain confident that their data and devices are safe.

Many companies will struggle to reduce their vulnerability to cyber-attacks in 2021 and beyond.
Over the next five years, cyber-crime costs will increase at an annual rate of 15%, reaching $10.5 trillion per year by 2025.
Security vendors will continue to consolidate endpoint security in 2021.

In 2021, cybercriminals will devise new and innovative ways to attack personal devices to access corporate networks. While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced workers to work remotely, many organizations have not fully protected their employees. As a result, cyber attackers will exploit these gaps, leading to increased cybercrimes.

Therapy Bots

By Chika Wonah

On August 15, 2017

In Internet of Things

Mental Health Care and all adjacent topics like access, protocol, and awareness continue to dominate public discourse as shows like Thirteen Reasons Why grow in popularity and teen suicide rates continue to swell. Naturally, technology does not exist in a vacuum but rather responds to the market demands and social needs. As such, many socially conscious programmers and inventors have looked into ways to harness algorithms, bots, and pre-existing social media to diagnose and treat mental health conditions before victims resort to extreme and harmful coping mechanisms.

The diagnosis side has called into collaboration predictive analytics, human behavior, and believe it or not, Instagram users. A March 2017 study out of Cambridge analyzed the Instagram behaviors of users with and without clinical depression to determine whether there were any tell-tale signs of developing depressive episodes. Ind determining the predictors of depression, the researchers hoped to publicize these and call into action users’ followers to check in on them.

After scrutinizing the posts of 166 users, 70 of whom were diagnosed with depression, the researchers found that depressed people tend to post more photos using the black and white filter, post fewer faces, and spend more time on the app. The researchers set their algorithm loose on fresh accounts and were able to correctly identify Instagram users with depression about 70% of the time. Mental health professionals and counselors can usually make a correct ID a little over 40% of the time, so this tool could help people get they need before they succumb to a treatable illness.

In addition to tools to diagnose mental health problems, programmers have ventured into providing better care to people who need additional support by means of hotlines and bots. Facebook Messenger has been a testing ground for lots of interactive bots, including webby-nominated Poncho, a humorous weather-predicting cat.

Programmers at Stanford University launched Dr. Woebot, a chatbot available on Facebook Messenger to help users document and track their moods and anxiety levels without having to consult (or pay for) a therapist. Their little project lives on Facebook and tracks moods, triggers, and solutions for its users/patients. Harnessing the year and years of research in the field of Cognitive Behavior Therapy, the bot guides users through exercises that bring harmony to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Users are asked to work through hypotheticals and think through difficult scenarios so that they can reclaim agency over their reactions and emotions in certain real-life settings.

Mental and cognitive health are nothing to be ashamed of, and it’s high time that our technological advances come to the aid of those who need our help the most.