Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Which Mental Health Apps Are Best? Online Tool Helps Patients Tailor What Might Help Them
Stat: A New Tool Aims To Help Patients Sort Through 200 Mental Health Apps
There are nearly 20,000 mental health apps that will do everything from tracking a person’s suicidal thoughts to soothing someone experiencing a panic attack. A new online tool from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center aims to help patients sort through the noise for almost 200 of them — and counting. (Ortolano, 7/10)
The Wall Street Journal: How You Feel Depends On Where You Are
Do the places where we choose to spend time have any part in shaping our personalities? The answer lies in the GPS data captured by nearly every app on our phones, according to a new study by Sandra Matz, a computational scientist at Columbia Business School, and Gabriella Harari, a social psychologist at Stanford. The study, published in June in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, shows that people’s persisting characteristics as well as their fleeting states of mind can be reliably predicted by the geographic breadcrumbs they leave behind. “Where you are tells us something about who you are and how you currently feel about yourself. And that’s not something you necessarily want to reveal to everyone,” said Prof. Matz. (Pinker, 7/9)
Kaiser Health News: Colorado, Like Other States, Trims Health Programs Amid Health Crisis
As a teenager, Paulina Castle struggled for years with suicidal thoughts. When her mental health was at its most fragile, she would isolate herself, spending days in her room alone. “That’s the exact thing that makes you feel significantly worse,” the 26-year-old Denver woman said. “It creates a cycle where you’re constantly getting dug into a deeper hole.” (Hawryluk, 7/10)
