California state and county mental health officials are working with mental health technology companies Mindstrong and 7 Cups to test the effectiveness of their applications among patients with mental health disorders, The New York Times reports.
Five things to know:
1. Mindstrong is a smartphone-based app that can alert users when they are on the verge of experiencing an emotional episode. The app installs a digital keyboard on the user's phone to monitor his or her screen activity.
2. Officials from 13 California counties and two cities have been meeting with Mindstrong and 7 Cups, a digital mental health network that users can access to text with a "company-trained 'listener' who judges the severity of the problem and then, if needed, connects the person to a 7 Cups therapist," according to the report.
3. Most of California's test users for the Mindstrong app have borderline personality disorder and receive treatment through the Los Angeles County mental health network.
4. Only a few dozen Los Angeles county residents were distributed Mindstrong technology, and since then, more than half have stopped using the app's keyboard function for reasons such as loss of interest and trouble using the new keyboard.
5. The 7 Cups program, which rolled out one year ago, is currently delayed by the state due to an internal financial review over concerns that some of the company's trained listeners were becoming "too personal," with users, according to the report.
To access the full report, click here.