correctional medical care's mental health tech week ii
TRANSCRIPT
A note from Correctional Medical Care:
For the past few weeks on CorrectionalMedicalCare.net, we’vedecided to use this platform to outline and highlight recent and ever
evolving methods of mental health care.
The topic of technological advancements can polarize an audience;some believe that with each step forward technology takes comes a
coinciding step forward for mankind. Others believe that we’vebecome too reliant on technology, citing our seeming dependence on
smartphones, television and tablet computers.
To view our blog posts, visit CorrectionalMedicalCare.net
Wearables Become Reality
To many, wearable tech may seem like a technology
of the future, something you might see in an old
episode of “The Jetsons” or “Star Trek,” but like
smart watches, fitness bands and activity trackers,
wearables are very much a thing of today.
But many if not most of the wearable technology on the
market today seems to be geared towards one of two
objectives: tracking solely physical activity or a sleek,
stylized new means of responding to text messages via your
wristwatch. For many people across the country, these two
facets of the evolving wearabletechnology realm simply do
not satisfy the needs of the consumer.
Wearables Continue to Advance
MIT Work with Wearables
In recent years, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology have begun exploring the possibility of studying data
obtained from activitytracking bands and its relation to mental
health diagnoses. Ordinary fitness bands can inform the wearer
of their heart rate, calories burned, and time active.
However by expanding the tracking capabilities to include skin
temperature and skin conductance, researchers were able to
open a new world of mental health understanding. Studying
children with autism researchers have been offered new insights
into the internal vs. external factors that are exhibited in children
when they experience what is considered a manic or highenergy
episode.
MIT Continued
When the MIT team expanded the data to include those with
depression, it allowed them to potentially identify triggers of
depressive episodes.
This wristband data, according to the scientists, could eliminate
or reduce the need for the current bestpractice methods for
identifying triggers such as questionnaires.
W/ME
The W/Me band continuously monitors your autonomous
nervous system and takes EKG readings, telling the band when
you’re feeling stressed out or in an emotionally riled up state.
From there, the band can help you recognize your signs and
triggers and help to avoid them in the future.
Spire
The Spire is a clipon tracker worn on your belt or
bra that does a little bit of everything, from the steps
tracking, breathing patterns and breathing rate that
you’d come to expect from a fitness band, to stress
notifications, breathing exercises and calm, focus
and tension tracking capabilities.