Mentium: Innovating the Future of Mental Health Treatment

With the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, mental health illnesses have become more prevalent in our society. A subject that was taboo in the past has become the center of conversation these days. It’s obvious that the old methods of treatment have not been effective, as the situation has exponentially grown instead of gradually diminishing. So now, there is an obvious need for innovation in this field of medical sciences. Advancements in the field in the last few decades have been mostly through technology. So why not think about technology to solve this problem too?

What is the problem?

The tools currently used for mental health support are inadequate.

One of the most common forms of mental health treatment is therapy. However, therapy is often an inadequate form of treatment, as many people feel uncomfortable speaking openly with a “stranger”. Much of this discomfort stems from a fear of being judged. Another well-known treatment is the use of medication. Research suggests that medication may not be the most effective mode of treatment, and may lead to other complications or ailments. Hospitalization is another one of the many treatments for mental stress. Hospitalization, however, is a very controversial form of treatment, with many saying it causes additional stress and harm. Evidently, the current methods being used to treat mental illnesses are defective and unpopular. So, this raises the question: where should mental health treatment go in the next 10–20 years?

Of late, technology has been advancing medical science in big waves. Our company Mentium believes that the future of mental health also lies within this field. Our solution would consist of implementing VR, AR, and BCI technology to aid patients in dealing with mental trauma, anxiety, and depression.

What is Mentium, and what are we doing?

Mentium is a company that will be using these technologies to treat mental health illnesses in the next 10–20 years.

Mentium will provide:

• VR Trauma Therapy Session (At Health Center)
• AR Therapy Sessions (At Home or At Health Center)
• AR At-Home Therapy (At Home)
• BCI At-Home Treatment (At Home)
• BCI Coma Treatment (At Health Center)

All of these sessions and resources will be done by/with the supervision of medical professionals, along with tech support.

So, what is…

VR

Virtual Reality (VR) is an experience of interacting with a 3 Dimensional(3D) world, which is not real. It is designed and generated by a computer, enabling the users three basic functionalities of immersion, navigation, and manipulation. Consequently, giving you the ability to create a completely new environment.

AR

While VR is the experience of creating a whole new reality with technology, Augmented Reality(AR) is the experience of adding technology to the existing reality. This can be accomplished using household technology, such as phones or cameras. While a camera views a space, an object will be shown on the screen, simulating the feeling of it being in the same space.

BCIs

Brain Computer Interfaces(BCIs) are devices that connect to your brain and can send complex signals to an external electronic source. This technology has been used to control motorized cars and collect data from dreams, but it can be used for much more, such as expressing one’s feelings and communicating with those you can’t talk to.

Solutions using…

VR

Currently, trauma is being treated with psychotherapy and medications. However, there are alternative ways to treat trauma that are both more effective and easier for the patients. An Australian study shows that simulating and reliving a traumatic experience can eliminate PTSD*. VR can be used to simulate the traumatic experience without the patients being put in a truly dangerous situation. The VR headset can also be monitored by medical professionals, creating a further sense of security

*PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is an illness where a patient perceives many situations to be dangerous, when in fact they are safe. This perception is caused by a traumatic experience the patient has experienced.

AR

As mentioned, therapy sessions are found to be unsuccessful, as many people are afraid to open up, because they believe their therapist will judge them. Such fear cannot be eliminated with a human therapist. However, it is possible to be eliminated with a robotic or AI-based therapist. AR could simulate a therapist being there to listen to you spilling out your thoughts, though the patient would know that they aren’t being judged. Using this approach, more people would be open to telling their feelings, thus relieving stress.

As well as mental health treatment, AR can be used for mental illness prevention. Many mental health illnesses, such as depression, are rooted in loneliness. To prevent companionless people from developing these illnesses, AR could be used to simulate a friend who is there for you to talk to and interact with when a therapist is unavailable. With the user’s consent, some of these discussions could also be recorded for a therapist to listen to later, so that the therapist could provide some human interaction and help with any problems the patient is dealing with.

BCIs

In 2007, Stanford University did a study to test if a mouse would feel pain or happiness depending on the colour of light that was flickered within its brain(using a device similar to BCIs). The results showed that yellow light caused happiness and less pain. A similar process could be implemented for humans, flickering a yellow light using BCIs to simulate the feeling of happiness and to relieve any pain or stress. Another application of BCIs could be to wake someone who is in a coma. While in a coma, the brain is at a very low level of consciousness, so many devices are unable to communicate with the brain. Since some BCIs can be implanted directly into the brain, BCIs can be used to communicate with the brain to recover from a coma.

Mentium

Mentium and all the technologies it uses, from VR and AR to BCIs, are revolutionary and will shape the future of mental health treatment. We firmly believe that such innovations in mental health will help treat the patients and alleviate this detrimental issue from society.