Ieso Digital Health, a provider of internet-enabled cognitive behavioural therapy, has launched Eight Billion Minds, a new digital therapeutics program aiming to address the global and regional shortages of mental health therapists.
The research aims to use deep learning analysis of 200,000 hours of patient therapy data to build a new program specifically focused on mental health support.
Using deep learning models and NLP (natural language processing), Eight Billion Minds quantifies and analyses intervention outcome associations to gain understanding of therapy related language and what aspects of psychotherapy are most effective.
This learning will be used to create clinically engaging and effective digital therapeutics tools for mental health sufferers where there are not enough therapists globally to meet demand.
Dr Andy Blackwell, Group Chief Science and Strategy Officer for Ieso Digital Health, said “Depression and anxiety impact millions of people from all walks of life, everywhere. Emboldened by significant recent advances in science and engineering, we are launching Eight Billion Minds to catalyse development of a radical new generation of therapeutic solutions for mental health.”
“Using deep learning and our unique data asset we have already made great advances in understanding what works in therapy, right down to individual words. Eight Billion Minds is using the latest technology to encapsulate this in a form that is scalable for distribution globally and removes barriers that are associated with mental healthcare today. We are building the next generation of mental healthcare.”
The platform aims to provide support for patients with depression – research from The Lancet has found in the 36 largest countries where treatment is not accessible to everyone, anxiety and depression have resulted in more than 12 billion days of lost productivity. The Global Health Observatory data repository has highlighted there are 4 psychiatrists for every 100,000 people.
Dr Blackwell concluded “With the widespread adoption of consumer technology and substantial advances in mental health science we now have an unprecedented opportunity to take the fight to mental illness globally. We have demonstrated that taking a data-driven approach to mental healthcare results in better outcomes for patients. Empowered by clinical science and deep learning, we will now use these same data to discover and develop a radical new generation of therapeutic solutions for mental health conditions. This is the role of Eight Billion Minds.”
