- Big Health, a digital therapeutics company, delivers evidence-based solutions for mental health issues, prioritizing research to ensure effective interventions.
- Their products have shown remarkable success in enhancing mental well-being, reflecting the company's dedication to improving lives through technology-driven healthcare.
- Founded by Peter Hames and Colin Espie.
Nowadays, terms like insomnia, depression, and anxiety are so widely used, and your grandparents or possibly even your parents aren't familiar with them. Even if you grew up in a privileged home or on the streets, everyone has undoubtedly gone through this at some point in their lives.
There were numerous instances in the past that we now recognize were not there because people hesitated to speak out or ask for help. Nothing is wrong with this. I would like to thank the generation for bringing up this idea, giving it a voice, and attempting to help one another.
Yes, it can be hard to tell your feelings to other people, even if they are close to you. Sometimes you also can not figure out how you feel, especially introverted people.
Many things, including a lack of trust, the state of the economy, responsibilities, and time management, can prevent people from getting medical treatment.
Medical facilities have also gotten a more extensive taste of AI in the current age when it is advancing humankind's great future by influencing every field, from writing to designing to everything.
Technology's impact on advancing health
The new technology presents an outstanding opportunity for increased utilization and more data-driven evaluation of these digital solutions to address the rise in mental health problems. Given the growing demand, it is essential to provide precise suggestions for the introduction of digital mental health interventions in the future, both during and after public health emergencies, in order to reduce mental health issues.
Additionally, new technologies might be integrated into a very complex app for tablets or smartphones. Using the device's built-in sensors, such applications may gather data on a user's regular behavior patterns.
The software can then alert users that assistance is required before a crisis arises if it notices a behavior change. Some apps are standalone programs made to sharpen one's memory or cognitive abilities.
Other apps facilitate communication between users and a peer counselor or a medical expert. And that gives the choice to complete the process in assurance, without fear, and anonymously.
Data collecting and treatment for mental illness have entered a new era because of technology. The public, healthcare professionals, and researchers now have new options for getting support, tracking progress, and improving their understanding of mental health thanks to mobile devices, such as smartphones, and tablets.
It is perfect for patients who struggle to get to in-person appointments since it enables therapy to take place whenever and wherever, such as at home in the middle of the night or on a bus on the way to work.
What is Big Health all about?
There are numerous apps available to assist with your problem, making it challenging to decide which one to use. To reduce your confusion and save you time, we are offering cloud-based software that aids in the improvement of your mental health. It has credible backing from patients, physicians, and even research studies.
Big Health is a digital therapeutics business that runs a healthcare website with behavioral treatment programs for mental health problems as the business advances its aim to help millions regain their mental wellness by offering secure and efficient drug-free treatments for the most typical mental health issues, such as anxiety and sleeplessness.
Peter Hames and Professor Colin Espie launched the business in 2010 with the intention of solving the huge lack of affordable and efficient mental health therapies.
Big Health's origin story begins with Peter Hames, who had firsthand experience with insomnia and its influence on mental health. Hames was aware of the growing incidence of sleep-related problems and the frequent inefficiency or limitation of conventional therapeutic approaches.
Aiming to assist people to improve their sleep and general mental health, Hames was motivated to create a scalable and accessible solution by his own struggle with insomnia.
At about the same time, Professor Colin Espie, a well-known sleep expert, and researcher at the University of Oxford, got in touch with Hames. Espie had spent many years researching sleep disorders and was at the forefront of creating evidence-based insomnia therapies.
Healthcare systems are aware that talking therapies are superior to medications, yet there is still a significant access problem. The NHS in the [UK] has about an 18-month waitlist for CBT for depression.
Can we provide evidence-based behavioral medicine in a way that duplicates all the beneficial effects of medications and makes it easily accessible? For the first time in human history, technology has given us the opportunity.
They came up with the idea of employing technology to deliver efficient, scalable, and customized mental health interventions together. Big Health was established by Hames and Espie in London, United Kingdom, with a common vision.
The company's initial focus was on creating Sleepio, an online program for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of insomnia therapy. Through the use of digital technology and tried-and-true therapeutic methods, Sleepio enables people to obtain evidence-based sleep therapy from the convenience of their own homes.
Research and useful inventions
According to the business, 82% of people receiving mental health treatment take medication. Despite research suggesting that most people would prefer a non-drug approach to mental health care, the majority of patients today get drugs, which are frequently linked to high risks of injury or side effects.
Their digital medicines provide a large-scale, equitable, safe, and drug-free alternative. With more than 28,000 participants in their clinical studies, products are supported by cutting-edge medical information.
The first two digital therapies from the firm are "Sleepio" and "Daylight" for anxiety and insomnia, respectively. Digital treatments from Big Health, such as Sleepio for insomnia and Daylight for anxiety, increase access to behavioral medicine and gold-standard care and are supported by controlled trials and industry-leading research.
Big Health makes adoption easier for payers and patients by seamlessly integrating across the treatment pathway, from member engagement to invoicing via pharmaceutical benefit managers. This method is all-inclusive, scalable, and economical with no negative side effects.
The company makes products that use the closeness of a human voice, captivating animation, and clinically exacting methods to assist people in overcoming their mental health obstacles. 71% of patients has achieved clinical improvement in fighting anxiety, and 76% of people have fought insomnia through Sleepio.
More than you think
For instance, Big Health's first product, Sleepio, a cloud-based digital service, aims to dispel sleep myths and deliver an evidence-based CBT program for insomnia sufferers digitally, all while getting up what is, at its core, a one-to-many self-help program as a one-on-one therapy session.
The Professor, a virtual therapist who occasionally travels with his narcoleptic dog Pavlov, is the welcoming face of Sleepio's CBT course. He guides the user through the material and sends them tailored emails and SMS to keep them interested and on track with the remote delivery method.
Sleepio is essentially talking therapy that is algorithmically provided and based on user responses to sleep questionnaires, but it is individualized and engaging in design.
The goal is to make a tried-and-true CBT program easier to use than, for instance, trying to self-administer from a book and more affordable and available than a genuine in-person treatment session.
It's important to emphasize that the software as a service offered by Sleepio also includes human components. Through an online forum, users get access to a group of people who share their experiences with insomnia and can offer support and camaraderie.
The Sleepio forum rewards users with helpfulness points when other members upvote their comments, promoting the best suggestions and most helpful members to the top.
We get the result
The 50 published clinical papers, including 13 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), that support Big Health's products are acknowledged in prestigious clinical guidelines from organizations, including the American College of Physicians and NICE.
Today, prominent employers in the US and the UK's NHS provide over 12 million people with funded access to Big Health's products.
It's important to keep in mind that traditional in-person therapy shouldn't always be replaced with online mental health services. The scope and importance of mental health treatment can be expanded, improving accessibility, cost, and outcomes for individuals seeking help.
Nevertheless, it is a beneficial addition. Big Health is still innovating and producing evidence-based digital medications to treat a variety of mental health conditions. The organization wants to provide accessible and practical solutions so that anybody can improve their mental health and lead happier, healthier lives.
Are you working on an innovative product? We would love to hear your story. Share it with us at [email protected]
Edited by Shruti Thapa
