This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Healthcare and Life Sciences Blog articles.
Claire Bonaci
You're watching the Microsoft us health and life sciences, confessions of health geeks podcast, a show that offers Industry Insight from the health geeks and data freaks of the US health and life sciences industry team. I'm your host, Claire Bonaci. For our second podcasts on mental health, Megan Lawrence, our senior accessibility evangelist is back to discuss the duality of how technology is impacting mental health. Hi, Megan. And welcome back to the confessions of health geeks podcast.
Megan Lawrence
Oh, thank you for having me on. Again. It's such a pleasure
Claire Bonaci
of course. So today we're going to dive a little bit into technology and its impact on mental health. Do you mind just explaining what's the State of the Union today for that topic?
Megan Lawrence
Yeah, I mean, the global pandemic has had a real impact on people's mental health. Um, the Center for Disease Control has what they call a household pulse. In January 2019 8% of the American population reported having an anxiety disorder. Last month, it was almost 40% of the American population. And so what we begin to see is that the disability community is growing due to the global pandemic. And in fact, it's people with diagnosed mental health conditions. That's the fastest growing community that we see today.
Claire Bonaci
Wow, that those numbers are staggering. I honestly, I would have never guessed that. So clearly, this is almost the second pandemic that's going on under underneath the first pandemic. So this is something that needs to be addressed. I've heard you talk about the blast zone a little bit. What do we need to know about that today to be effective tomorrow? What do you want to say about the blast zone?
Megan Lawrence
Yeah, I mean, I couldn't agree with you more that, you know, many healthcare professionals are calling mental health this the second pandemic. Um, so what we see in research today is that over the last year, people have been living really with a lot of uncertainty and potentially trauma, but that what we begin to see emerging from healthcare professionals, is that it's really year two, and year three, where we begin to see things like post traumatic stress and anxiety really on setting as we begin to move through this next transition on from the global pandemic. And so I often describe it as that blast zone, not to scare people, but to help people understand that if next year is hard, that's okay. Because this is part of what a sustained recovery actually looks like for us.
Claire Bonaci
That's so interesting to hear. Because I do think, you know, the first part of the pandemic, I look back on it, I just think, Oh, well, wasn't that bad. I got through it, it really the resilience kind of comes out. But then when I think about sometimes it's, it's harder now, if I think, am I weaker now? Am I becoming softer? but really, it probably is just the blast zone that sometimes it does get harder year two, year three into an issue or into a traumatic event.
Megan Lawrence
Yeah, and I also think that, you know, this is this is fluid. And so sometimes we may feel I know, for me living with a permanent mental health disability, sometimes I have an incredibly hard week, right, and then I'll have two really good days, and then I'll have a really hard afternoon. And so you know, this does ebb and flow. And I think that's another thing too, you know, to remind the listeners is that it's completely normal to have spikes in symptoms or feelings where you might be kind of like, I'm kind of off or kind of blah today, and recognizing those and not being ashamed. But just recognizing that's part of who we are.
Claire Bonaci
Again, that's this part of normalizing mental health, especially mental health in the workplace. So we often hear that technology or or better yet too much technology can lead to serious health conditions like depression, what is the role of technology today and impacting our mental health? Both both positively and negatively?
Megan Lawrence
Yeah, I mean, technology has a dual role to play, right? Um, we see that always being connected, always being on can certainly cause mental health conditions. And it can make symptoms, you know, worse potentially, for people like myself that live with a long term mental health, disability, and even sometimes something that can be so positive like gaming, especially over the last year as a way to connect and be on you know, in a virtual community. We now see that gaming addiction has been identified as a mental health condition, right? So we've got this duality happening, but I actually really believe that technology can be positive. I know I've continued to see my therapist through telehealth medicine. That has been an absolute game changer for me as all of us were staying at home. I also even see tools in our own Microsoft products. So Viva analytics. I love it. It gives me this like purple square when I don't get back on line after hours, right? really rewarding me and helping me keep track and honestly keep myself honest, to create those get great boundaries. One last thing that I will say just because it was in the news yesterday, which was you know, Satya talking about the importance of breaks literally those five to 15 minutes where you stand up, you drink water, right you stretch, maybe you pet a dog or a cat. And now outlook is helping automate that. So as it creates meetings, it's automatically creating those breaks. So that's some of the ways that I see technology, automating and helping us build that better behavior that we all need want to maintain mental health and well being,
Claire Bonaci
you hit the nail on the head there with the duality, that it is a double edged sword, you know, being able to use technology for the good, whether that's telehealth or just those, those meditation apps and everything, just being at the touch of our fingers on our cell phones, but also too much can also be a bad thing. And that's why I do appreciate that we can take those five or 10 minute breaks or build some of that into our schedules. So what do you think the role of technology will be in three to five years and supporting people in their mental health journey? How do you think it will evolve?
Megan Lawrence
You know, I mentioned this the last time we're together, but I'm gonna say it again, because I think it's so important. And it's data, right? It is all about being able to collect data about people with disabilities doing it in an ethical way, and making sure that people understand the types of data that they're sharing, and that they do that willingly. And thinking about that intersectionality of data, you know, between disability and things like race and at the intersection and lgbtqi Plus, because AI will empower and power so much of our technology, including mental health apps that all of us, you know, have on our phone, but it really requires us as a technology company and as a society to be stewards of that data to make sure we create culturally competent experiences that really support people.
Claire Bonaci
Exactly. So again, thank you so much, Megan, for being part of the podcast. I had so much fun talking to you about mental health and I look forward to having you on again.
Megan Lawrence
Oh, that is fantastic. And as your mental health advocate, everybody, remember to breathe throughout your day. It is a great way to reduce stress and just get oxygen into the system that helps everybody pay more attention. So take that break and get a breath.
Claire Bonaci
Thank you all for watching. Please feel free to leave us questions or comments below and check back soon for more content from the HLS industry team.