Opinion: Mental health apps need a complete redesign

The internet has transformed the ways we access mental health support. Today, anyone with a computer or smartphone can use digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) like Calm for insomnia, PTSD Coach for post-traumatic stress, and Sesame Street’s Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame for anxious kids. Given that most people facing mental illness don’t access professional help through traditional sources like therapists or psychiatrists, DMHIs’ promise to provide effective and trustworthy support globally and equitably is a big deal.

But before consumer DMHIs can transform access to effective support, they must overcome an urgent problem: Most people don’t want to use them. Our best estimate is that 96% of people who download a mental health app will have entirely stopped using it just 15 days later. The field of digital mental health has been trying to tackle this profound engagement problem for years, with little progress. As a result, the wave of pandemic-era excitement and funding for digital mental health is drying up. To advance DMHIs toward their promise of global impact, we need a revolution in these tools’ design.

Read the rest…