Need is the mother of invention. In 2020, we will push the world to find creative solutions to a series of challenges in an unprecedented way, first in the medical field. From drug discovery to vaccine manufacturing to nursing services, COVID has prompted clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, and policy makers to fundamentally rethink all aspects of the healthcare ecosystem.
Although COVID is a physical disease on the surface, it has placed a huge burden on already strained mental health systems around the world. Before the pandemic, mental health status was the leading cause of disability worldwide. Over the years, the diagnosis rate for people of all ages has been rising, with an estimated global economic loss of US$1 trillion each year. The impact on young people is particularly devastating. Among young people, suicide is now second only to accidents. Since the beginning of 2020, the situation has worsened: the number of adults reporting anxiety and depressive symptoms in the United States has increased significantly, and the impact on children may have an impact in the next few years.
However, we have reasons to remain cautiously optimistic. COVID is forcing us to face this growing problem, and innovative thinkers have stepped up to meet the challenge. They brought solutions to problems that once seemed difficult to solve from remote areas. Work has begun to establish a system to ensure that people are not only physically safe, but also mentally healthy.
System modeling techniques in the financial world can now predict mental health events. Smart phone functions are being used to create digital models of disease progression to detect and monitor cognitive health. The main initiative has begun to map the brain and discover new treatment targets. Once psychedelic drugs are slandered, they will be re-examined, from post-traumatic stress disorder to depression to end-of-life anxiety. The venture capital community is very optimistic about mental health and has invested more than $2.4 billion in digital tools for doctors and patients in the past year alone.
With all this in mind, the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Mental Health Committee is a diverse group with expertise in psychiatry, neuroscience, psychology, public health, technology, informatics, business, public policy, and advocacy. Emphasize the most innovative and game-changing mental health progress. The committee screened more than 60 nominations, focusing on finding novel solutions to bridge current gaps in access or care, improving existing ways of doing things, and having the greatest short-term potential to promote social progress and enhance people’s spiritual lives.
We sincerely hope that our list can promote progress and create a better world for everyone with mental illness. At the same time, we recognize that a future that takes mental health seriously and gets rid of the current stigma surrounding it is not inevitable. Society has the opportunity to advance these efforts through research and outreach.As Douglas Adams this Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Fame is written on independent, “Trying to predict the future is a cup game. But it is increasingly becoming a game that all of us have to play because the world is changing so fast and we need to understand the actual situation in the future because we will have to live there, maybe next week. “
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the opinions expressed by the author or author are not necessarily those of the author Scientific American.
Click here to view the World Economic Forum Global Future Mental Health Committee