Society has come a long way in its attitudes towards and treatment of mental health conditions. Where issues like depression, anxiety and PTSD were once deeply misunderstood and minimized, we’ve been able to not only talk about them in a more nuanced and empathetic way, but we’ve also made strides in how we treat them. Mental health challenges are far more common and widespread than we might think, so creating a space where people can feel heard and understood doesn’t just help individuals, it helps families and communities too. Just in the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of incredible innovations and changes in the management and treatment of mental health challenges. Here are some of the most promising.

Digital Services

Getting mental health support into the people who desperately need it has always been a challenge due to affordability and access. The rise of telehealth services has really improved this issue. During 2020, there was a real need for people to get care and treatment remotely, and technology came to the rescue. People were able to talk to their therapists via Zoom, or use apps like Betterhelp to easily deal with their struggles or tap into meditation communities to still feel connected to people. A lot of people struggled through the lockdowns and isolation of the pandemic, and thankfully there were ways to make sure they were able to maintain their health.

New Medications

There was once a time in history where the options for treating mental health through medication were extremely limited. The challenge with these medications is that they often came with unpleasant side effects or they didn’t truly treat the conditions. Nowadays, there are way more medications available, and research and development continue to deliver the best treatment to the people who need it. One such treatment is ketamine therapy – which is a powerful option as part of a comprehensive care plan for depression and other mood disorders, which has to include counseling. Ketamine has many properties that make it a very effective antidepressant without the challenging side effects of other drugs. For many people struggling with mental illness, the choice is between a medication with awful side effects and struggling with your condition. Through ketamine therapy, this problem can be solved.

Understanding and Addressing the Harm of Social Media

Social media platforms have been in the press a lot lately, and not for good reasons. Many studies have been done in exploring the impact social media platforms are having on the mental health of people of all ages. We’ve seen that social media is driven by a lot of intense, explosive and negative emotions, and also that it has also left a lot of people feeling unhappy about themselves, their lives, and their looks. All these things can trigger and then exacerbate mood disorders like depression and anxiety. With this knowledge, society can now rethink its consumption of social media content, and establish healthier habits around it.

Mental Health in the Workplace

 For a very long time, mental health in the realm of the workplace wasn’t fully considered or truly addressed, but we’re now starting to see companies and their leaders truly take it seriously. There’s been a lot of talk about how to make the workplace a healthier and more humane place that understands that human beings have emotions and these emotions affect how they show up in every area of their lives. Businesses are investing in therapy and counseling more than ever before, and even introducing measures like mental health days and 4-day work weeks in order to help their employees manage their mental health and cope with stress in a better way.

These are just a few positive shifts we’re seeing in the treatment of mental health conditions, and it’s very encouraging to see some of the strides we have made as a society. We are going to see more applications of technology and strategies to better serve the needs of mentally ill individuals, and it will benefit everyone because we all have our own emotional challenges and struggles.

Ultimately, for people to lead truly fulfilled and happy lives, mental health has to be a part of the equation. It has to be something that’s actively and constantly thought about and addressed. This can be done through the conversations we have about mental health, along with the measures, programs and initiatives we allow people to have access to on a daily basis. This is how we can give help and support to the people who really need it.