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Technological Landscape and Modalities in the Digital Mental Health Provision
The digital mental health ecosystem encompasses a broad range of technologies and software designed to support, augment, or deliver mental and behavioral healthcare. This provision moves beyond traditional in-person therapy to leverage ubiquitous digital platforms, primarily driven by the goal of expanding accessibility and scalability. The landscape can be categorized into four primary modalities:
Telehealth and Telepsychiatry: This is the most established form of digital mental health, involving synchronous (real-time) virtual communication between a clinician and a patient, typically via secure video-conferencing platforms. It functions as a direct digital replacement for in-person appointments, offering continuity of care, reducing travel barriers, and lowering "no-show" rates.
Mobile Health (mHealth) Apps: This category is the largest and most heterogeneous. It includes thousands of smartphone applications spanning wellness apps (for meditation, mood tracking, and journaling, which are not regulated) and regulated apps (which may provide evidence-based tools for symptom management, often drawing from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT).