Mental health apps are becoming increasingly popular, and the reason for this growing popularity becomes easy to understand when weighed against other alternative measures designed to combat several mental health issues such as depression or anxiety.
While a lot of people still prefer in-person therapy, a lot more others are resorting to the use of mental health apps for a variety of plausible reasons. Harvard Medical School Research indicates that one such reason has a lot to do with the fact that these apps provide free access to mental health professionals at any time of the day for free or at a relatively low cost, as well as the fact that they help people navigate the rough times while increasing symptom awareness.
If I’m struggling with mental health issues, it’s not exactly something I want to shout about, and the use of mental health apps allows me to maintain a level of privacy and anonymity. Given that part of the requirements for gaining access to these apps includes submitting some personal data such as name, social security number, and the like, there are concerns that some of these data you or I submit are shared by these apps.
These legitimate concerns point to the importance of examining the data-sharing practices of some of these apps, and how important it is for you and me to take responsibility for the privacy and security of the data we share with these mental health apps.
Understanding Mental Health Apps
Before we progress to the primary issue of this article, one must understand what mental health apps are and why they have been created. We will also examine the different types available and their functionalities, as well as the overall benefits of using these apps for mental well-being.
As previously indicated, mental health is a vital aspect of human care that we need to pay attention to, just as we care for our physical bodies. The advent of technology has made this relatively easy, by introducing mediums to achieve this objective. The medium which is fast growing in popularity is mental health apps.
Mental health apps are apps that feature tools, activities, and support to help you deal with your mental health issues like PTSD, anxiety, and depression. There are several reasons for the creation of these apps but the most simple one is to make them easily accessible.
Having to wait long periods to see a therapist can be frustrating but these apps help to cut through the red tape while also giving me the option of privacy, anonymity, and flexibility, because I can access them 24/7.
It is important to state though, that mental health apps are not a direct alternative for seeing a therapist in person, or other tried and tested healthcare infrastructure designed to deal with mental health issues. Rather, they should be viewed as some sort of supplemental, yet relatively effective option.
There are thousands of mental health apps available for consumers. However, it is important to point out the fact that all these apps are grouped into just a few categories that serve separate functions.
To put things in perspective, there are specific mental health problems, like dementia, eating disorder, depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorders, and PTSD, and there are specific types of mental health apps that have been created to serve your needs whatever it may be.
I want to show you a few of the available mental health apps and their functionalities.
If you are struggling with anxiety, stress, or panic disorders, I would recommend that you go for meditation apps like Calm or Headspace. Some of the important features of this app include audio classes and specialized programs that are designed to help the user achieve better sleep and relaxation to alleviate the aforementioned mental issues.
Features like text messaging, live video or audio therapy sessions with a professional, easy access, and other privacy features are what have made several online therapy apps popular amongst people who would rather not go to a therapist’s office. Add to it the fact that you can get help for all forms of mental health disorders except for dementia and other serious cases, and you see why these types of mental health apps are grabbing significant market share.
Self-explanatory in every sense of the word, eating disorder apps help people struggling with significant eating disorders to regain their lives. These apps aim to achieve this goal by setting appropriate meal plans, as well as helping the user track their progress. You can also use these types of apps when you are battling bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and ARFID.
These types of apps help the user regulate repetitive actions that are simply a result of the disorder. The treatment plans which include mindfulness and exposure-response prevention, are tailor-made to service the needs of anyone battling this disorder.
Shocking, scary, or dangerous events often lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and these types of apps help you to keep track of and manage your stress levels accordingly. Some of these types of apps feature checklists of symptoms that help you diagnose yourself and help you come to a practical conclusion about how serious your mental health challenge is.
Given the fact that over 70% of the world’s population owns mobile phones, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of mental health apps cannot be overemphasized. While the jury remains out when it comes to the effectiveness of certain mental health apps in some parts of the world, there are noticeable benefits of using mental health apps in general, particularly in countries like the United States where more than 85% of the population own mobile phones. These [1] benefits include
1. Anonymity
As previously indicated, some people like me would prefer not to share their mental health struggles with anyone, not even a professional who is legally obligated to keep details of such sessions private. This is a particular area that many people, who are aware of the fact that mental health apps rarely require direct communication with another individual, find quite beneficial.
2. Understanding
Any fear or assumption that mental health apps are poor substitutes for the real-live therapy sessions, has been aptly dispelled by the level of understanding exhibited by these apps. You only need to provide some basic information about how you feel, and these apps will promptly highlight the areas where your mental health is deteriorating.
3. Direct Access to Resources
Another very vital benefit of using a mental health app is that you are afforded direct access to the resources you require to combat the effects of the mental health issue you are struggling with.
4. Realistic Goal Setting
Knowing what you are struggling with, and knowing exactly what to do, and how to go about doing the needful can be a herculean task sometimes. This is another area where mental health apps can be useful because they help you set realistic goals and the relief and fulfillment you get from achieving those goals can help improve your mental health.
5. Convenience
This is perhaps the most crucial benefit of having a mental health app installed on your mobile device. If you have had to go the route of in-person therapy sessions, you will have had to endure the often tedious ritual of scheduling appointments with your therapist. With mental health apps, you don’t have to deal with that hassle, as you can easily fix an appointment on your phone at your convenience.
Data Collection By Mental Health Apps
Signing up to use mental health apps is just like signing up to use any other app. These apps often require you to input your data. Let me point out some of the data collection practices employed by these mental health apps, the types of data they collect, as well as the consent process, and user awareness of the data collected.
Part of the data collection practices employed by mental health apps includes collecting and sharing data of users beyond what they expect. The position users are placed in when they are signing up to use mental health apps differs from the position they find themselves in when they are involved in in-person sessions.
Real-life professionals are legally bound not to disclose your data, but while signing up for mental health support on these apps, one may find that the data they provide are used for advertising and marketing purposes, sometimes without the consent of the user.
The types of data that are often required by these mental health apps vary but are ultimately linked to private and sensitive information that users may not want to disclose, but which are disclosed anyway. The type of data collected often includes private and sensitive information including the user’s name, social security number, mental health profile, financial profile, and more.
Research has shown that only about 20% of mental health app users go through the privacy policy put in place by these mental health apps. Those privacy policies often cover the part where the user’s consent is sought before data is collected, and even possibly shared.
I personally find that some of these privacy policy statements are usually long, and instead of spending a significant amount of time reading them, users tend to just accept the provisions of the policy without considering the fact that they had just agreed for their data to be used by these companies for sales marketing, research, and other sharing purposes.
Privacy Concerns And Risks
There are legitimate privacy concerns and risks involved when sharing data with a mental health app. Part of the concerns I wish to address includes data sharing by mental health apps, as well as risks of data breaches, unauthorized access, and misuse of personal information. I will also share some case studies and controversies surrounding data privacy in mental health apps, and the ethical implications and impact on user trust.
People with mental health issues are the most vulnerable users of the technology that mental health apps provide, and as such it is assumed that these apps would keep their private and sensitive information safe and confidential at all costs.
Unfortunately, that is not the case as has been regularly proven by several of these mental health apps that share the information of their users for various purposes including sales, marketing, and advertisements.
The growth of the adoption of mental health services through mental health apps has also increased the risks of data breaches, unauthorized access, and misuse of personal health information, which research has shown is of great value to cyber criminals.
Many of these app developers lack the requisite security knowledge required to keep these cybercriminals at bay, and the result is that their users are often exposed to these unsolicited risks of breaches and unauthorized access.
A study conducted by Research Gate between 2016 and 2018 showed that 41% of, 25 of 61, mental health apps did not have privacy policies in place to better educate their users about how and when their private sensitive information will be collected and retained or shared with third parties.
This flagrant disregard for the sensitive information of mental app users leads me to subscribe to the widespread controversies that these app developers care more about the bottom line than they do about the health and safety of not just their users, but also the sensitive information they are given access to.
The ethical implication of this type of irresponsible behavior on the part of these app developers is that they are simply violating a standard recommendation of privacy regulations.
This in turn erodes the trust of users who often proceed to end subscriptions with the defaulting mental health apps. After all, why should someone who shares sensitive data on a mental health app expect to trust a company that has done very little to protect that data? I certainly wouldn’t.
Regulations and Safeguards
Given the aforementioned privacy and security concerns, it becomes increasingly important that new and improved regulatory processes and safeguards be introduced to combat the debilitating effects of privacy and security breaches.
As has been made abundantly clear, the regulatory frameworks in place, such as the often lengthy privacy policy statements, have proven insufficient in tackling the malaise that is unwanted data privacy and security breaches.
HIPAA which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulates the data collecting processes of medical practitioners in the United States.
There are also strict regulatory bodies in the world, like GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation, and the HL7, Health Level Seven Standard, which stipulates guidelines that must be followed for the exchange of any health-related information.
Given that mental health apps fall outside the scope of the medical field, the aforementioned bodies have no control over how they operate, and it becomes increasingly difficult to regulate how they use the data they collect.
While it has proven relatively ineffective, mental health app developers are legally obligated to take adequate measures to ensure the data privacy and security of their users.
A lot of time is often invested in extensive compliance research which helps to determine the compliance standard and regulation that the app falls under. The next thing they do is that they encrypt the sensitive patient data they collected which helps to provide a layer of protection against cyber attacks.
With the loopholes found in a lot of these mental health apps, it becomes essential for users to be kept in the loop about how the sensitive data they submit to these apps are being used.
Certain measures also have to be put in place to dissuade these developers from sharing sensitive private information with a third party without the informed consent of the user.
User Responsibility and Best Practices
The use of mental health apps appears to be something that has come to stay when it comes to combating the myriad mental health challenges prevalent in the world at present, and this is despite its many pitfalls including the constant breaches of trust between the users and the app developers as a result of data sharing.
It is therefore important for users to understand that they have a responsibility to protect their private data.
Armed with the knowledge of how these mental health apps are sharing your data, there are a few recommendations users are advised to implement to protect their data privacy.
One thing you and I should consider doing is opting out of personalized ads and cross-app tracking. This removes the possibility that the data we upload to a particular app can be used in connection with the one we upload to another.
Another important measure to put in place to ensure that our data privacy is protected to a very large extent is ensuring that we do not link the app to any social media account, as well as ensure that we do not share any sensitive medical data when we are signed in to those accounts.
In my opinion, the privacy policy statements put out by these mental health apps tend to be long and laced with tedious wordings, which is why I often just skip them and sign on.
I have realized though that this is a decision many users regret in the long run because part of the often lengthy privacy statement describes how these companies use, and, in several cases, share the data collected with a third party.
I have also come to the realization that the often thankless, but ultimately rewarding task of reading through privacy policies and terms of service is a proven way to ensure that users make informed choices concerning the level of sensitive data they share with these apps.
A lot of it begins with the settings of your mobile phone. After downloading the app, go through the privacy settings and enable all the options that allow you to limit how the apps track you.
It is also good practice for users of these mental health apps to become adept at the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). VPNs help to mask the location of your device and prevent an ISP (Internet Service Provider) from seeing the other apps you use.
While some believe this method to be less effective when compared to other protective measures, one can never be too safe when dealing with the level of sensitive data shared with these mental health app developers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Mental health apps primarily collect personalized and sensitive data of intending users such as names, addresses, social security numbers, mental health status, and more.
One of the ways mental health apps protect user data is by encrypting sensitive user data to protect them from cyber-attacks.
Research conducted has proven that a lot of the available mental health apps sell user data to third parties.
There are no active regulatory frameworks put in place to ensure that mental health apps comply with the instituted data privacy laws, which makes it difficult to protect the privacy of data shared with most mental health apps.
Before downloading a mental health app, users are advised to consider a variety of factors including reading through the privacy policy statements to understand how the data they share on these apps are used.
Mental health apps can track users’ location easily once downloaded on a mobile device. This is why it is advisable to use VPNs to mask your device's location before downloading the app.
At present, there are no independent organizations set up to evaluate the privacy and security of mental health apps.
They don't, which is why there are recommended measures for users to ensure that these breaches don't affect them adversely.
Conclusion
To recap, data privacy concerns in mental health apps should be taken seriously because of how they negatively impact the well-being of users. Mental health app developers and the government have a responsibility to regulate how the data shared on these apps are used.
Given that these apps are loosely regulated, you and I have a responsibility to ensure that the data shared on these apps are well protected.
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