News and Blog

Therapy in the digital age


"Recalibrating Treatment for Our Wired World" is one psychiatrist's take on the modifications forced on the practice by 21st century digital connectivity:

For a few, the new technology is obviously a advantage. Let's say you encompass the universal anxiety disorder social phobia. You avoid speaking up in class or at employment, fearful you will embarrass yourself, in addition to the prospect of going to a party inspires dread. You will do anything to stay away from social interactions.

You see a psychotherapist who wisely recommends cognitive-behavioral therapy, that will challenge your dysfunctional thoughts about how people see you plus as a result lower your social apprehension. You find that this treatment involves a fair amount of homework: You generally have to keep a written log of your thoughts plus feelings to examine them. plus since you see your therapist weekly, most of the employment is done solo.

As it turns out, there is a smartphone app that will prompt you at a range of times throughout the day to documentation these social interactions in addition to your emotional reaction to them. You can take the documentation to your therapist, and you are off and running...

When it comes to gathering up plus organizing data, software is hard to beat. But information has a tendency to spread, especially digital information. To wit, electronic medical data containing sensitive personal information can be released, either accidentally or deliberately, and disseminated. Anyone who has followed the hacking of supposedly secure in addition to encrypted financial databases knows this is not a remote possibility. Interesting.

For more information about mental illness