Digital therapeutics may be a powerful tool to help boost patients' mental health, according to an Aug. 1 article on the American Medical Association website.
However, these products must meet certain qualifications to be considered a digital therapeutic, including claiming to diagnose a specific disease or medical condition, working to alleviate that disease or condition and having diagnostic accuracy.
Digital therapeutics for mental health can be used for patients who are reluctant to go to therapy or have to wait a while to get in to see a specialist, show symptoms of a mental condition but have not received a diagnosis or may be approaching a mental health crisis and need intervention, the article said.
Other benefits to digital therapeutics can include lowering overall costs of care, augmenting care, offering privacy and at-home care, along with overall optimizing clinical and health outcomes.