Using design technologies in psychophysics, gamification, and digital phenotyping for mental health innovation

According to the CDC, 40% of all US adults were struggling with adverse mental health and substance abuse issues in June 2020 during COVID 19 [1]; population prevalence of clinically significant levels of mental distress rose from 18·9% in 2018–19 to 27·3% in 2020, one month into the UK lockdown [2];

2 studies investigating COVID-19 patients found a high level of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) (96.2%) and significantly higher level of depressive symptoms (p = 0.016) [3].

The authors found a lack of a systematic review on mental health in general populations; a general lack of solutions for quantifying mental health and accounting for self reporting biases; and decreasing accessibility of in-person traditional mental healthcare during the global pandemic, even as more people choose to spend greater time on online technology platforms:

• 44% of adult Gen Z (18-24) claim to have a Twitter account,
• 23% check it daily-
• and young adults in their late 20s and early 30s spent 2.6 hours a day on mobile video in 2019 [4].

The conference proceedings presented through this work will examine the specialized technologies in app-based and hardware solution developed at FullCircle for mental health [5]:

• digital biomarkers and phenotyping as a way to supplement early detection of mental health issues[6];
• gamification of traditional mental health care and community building to increase engagement [7],
• and haptic and emotional cues to influence sociability and help seeking behaviors [8].

Initial findings made through FullCircle’s first implementation of a solution to variable sample size support recommendations made in cited studies that behaviorism patterns can be queued to elicit desirable responses in mental health.