High-tech mental health care: Is there an app for that?

Nearly one in five American adults lives with a mental illness–about 51.5 million people in 2019, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. And among those adults, approximately half do not receive treatment for their illnesses, according to Mental Illness Policy Org.

For many Americans, lack of access to providers-—whether it’s the cost, insurance coverage, or no available providers in the community–dictates whether they can seek treatment, according to a 2018 survey from the National Council on Behavioral Health.

Tech and the startup world are rushing in to fill the gap with virtual behavioral health care, with services including therapy, coaching, and even startups that prescribe and ship medications.

According to Fierce Healthcare, the COVID-19 pandemic motivated investors to pour huge sums of money into behavioral health startups as locked-down Americans looked for virtual mental health care.

The top dog among mental health startups in 2020 is Talkspace, according to The Motley Fool. Talkspace is a mental health subscription service that matches users with licensed therapists via video, audio or text, and works with some insurance carriers.

The wellness app Calm, founded in 2012, promises to help users meditate, unwind, and maybe even improve sleep, according to Quartz. Downloads spiked as the COVID-19 pandemic gained steam, and one major health insurer made it free to all members.

Brightside, a telemedicine service that specializes in mental health care, provides therapy and medication services to users in some states via a network of providers, according to The Motley Fool.

According to the Brightside website, medical insurance is not currently accepted.

While telehealth and virtual treatment options offered by mental health startups may be a welcome boost for Americans suffering from mental illness, some experts say they’re not appropriate for everyone. According to Cronkite News/Arizona Public Broadcasting, mental health experts say that some therapeutic techniques are not easy to replicate through video chat, and not all patients respond well to the format.