Smartphones as Mental Health Tools
Despite warning patients to stay away from bars where they used to drink and neighborhoods where they used to buy drugs, eventually they’d end up there… So [Patrick] Dulin designed an app. Whenever a patient gets near a risky area, a message pops up on her phone with coping strategies or the app fires off requests for support to family, friends or sponsors…
At the University of Massachusetts, Edward W. Boyer takes it a step further. He hooks up a wireless pulse and skin-conductance anklet to his patient’s mobiles, and his app intervenes whenever it detects that its user is anxious or craving.
Full article on cellphone “therapy apps.”
Interesting application.
Unfortunately this post stresses the use of technology to control people instead of using it to enable people and empower them.
I agree with Vicki.
Just don’t use this app while driving in Maryland. Using your cell phone while driving became illegal today (Oct 1) in Maryland. I long for the days when we used to call them “car phones” and we were allowed to use them in the car.
Next maybe Big Brother could use ankle bracelets that shock the addicts if they enter a no-go zone.
Vicki makes a good point.
Next up: the cell phone alerts your bank, which shuts down account access until you leave the area