Mental health app boom raises alarms
AXIOS May 2, 2022
The same pandemic-driven boom in mental health and wellness apps that helped ease two years of COVID-driven discontents is now raising alarms over privacy, efficacy and a blurring of the line between formal medical treatment and general self-care.
Why it matters: Online services for mental health have given more people easy access to help than ever before, and the sector is booming with investment.
Yes, but: Not every mental health problem can be solved with an app, and consumers are confused by the range of options available — faced with advertising for apps that can sometimes conflate serious mental health issues with vaguer well-being concerns.
- “We need to become more sophisticated and differentiate between the apps and what...