INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Balancing Demand and Supply in Mental Health The Role of Technology There is a demand-–supply imbalance in mental healthcare. The rapidly growing demand for mental healthcare services has met the undersupply and overstretched provision of healthcare services. Balance can be achieved by increasing technology to increase supply and decreasing technology to decrease demand. Begoña San José, Clinical Psychologist
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he demand for mental health support is rapidly growing. The COVID-19 pandemic, looming financial uncertainty, the energy crisis, and armed conflicts, among others, have triggered significant worsening of the mental health of populations across the globe. This is reflected in sleeping difficulties, increases in alcohol consumption or substance use, symptoms of trauma, and suicidal thoughts. The prevalence of anxiety and depression has increased, and with it, the consumption of antidepressants and anxiolytics. Simultaneously, and partly as a result of the measures to contain and limit the spread of COVID-19, mental health protective factors such as social connections with colleagues and friends and family, physical exercise, natural light exposure, daily routines, access
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A SI A N H O S P I T A L & H EA LT HCA R E M A N AGE M E N T
to health services fell dramatically. Plus, mentally unhealthy lifestyles characterised by sedentarism, poor diets, high social media consumption, substance use and abuse, poor quality interpersonal relationships, isolation, sleep deprivation, lack of work-life balance exacerbated by teleworking and blurred boundaries between work and home, overweighted mentally healthier ones. This dangerous cocktail affects larger and larger segments of the population but takes an especially high toll on the most vulnerable. Women, more likely than men to report mental health disorders, are experiencing burnout, especially those juggling increasingly demanding jobs, homeoffice and childbearing responsibilities. People suffering from chronic illness, and older adults, already at higher risk
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of having a concurrent mental health issue, experience an exacerbation of their vulnerability, both to a mental and a physical worsening of their condition. Children and young adults are experiencing mental distress due to disruption in routines, loss of social contact. Stress in the households is leading many to turning to social media and substance use as coping mechanisms. For those with disruptive family structures or exposed to abuse, the situation is even worse, and sadly, too many young adults are experiencing suicidal ideation. Healthcare providers and educators, often buffering thanks to their training and the social nature of their professions, are increasingly threatened by burnout. Last but certainly not the least, the situation for those already experiencing mental health disorders, is especially delicate
