Digital transformation of mental health services
Open accessAbstract
This paper makes a case for digital mental health and provides insights into how digital technologies can enhance (but not replace) existing mental health services. We describe digital mental health by presenting a suite of digital technologies (from digital interventions to the application of artificial intelligence). We discuss the benefits of digital mental health, for example, a digital intervention can be an accessible stepping-stone to receiving support. The paper does, however, present less-discussed benefits with new concepts such as 'poly-digital', where many different apps/features (e.g. a sleep app, mood logging app and a mindfulness app, etc.) can each address different factors of wellbeing, perhaps resulting in an aggregation of marginal gains. Another benefit is that digital mental health offers the ability to collect high-resolution real-world client data and provide client monitoring outside of therapy sessions. These data can be collected using digital phenotyping and ecological momentary assessment techniques (i.e. repeated mood or scale measures via an app). This allows digital mental health tools and real-world data to inform therapists and enrich face-to-face sessions. This can be referred to as blended care/adjunctive therapy where service users can engage in 'channel switching' between digital and non-digital (face-to-face) interventions providing a more integrated service. This digital integration can be referred to as a kind of 'digital glue' that helps join up the in-person sessions with the real world. The paper presents the challenges, for example, the majority of mental health apps are maybe of inadequate quality and there is a lack of user retention. There are also ethical challenges, for example, with the perceived 'over-promotion' of screen-time and the perceived reduction in care when replacing humans with 'computers', and the trap of 'technological solutionism' whereby technology can be naively presumed to solve all problems. Finally, we argue for the need to take an evidence-based, systems thinking and co-production approach in the form of stakeholder-centred design when developing digital mental health services based on technologies. The main contribution of this paper is the integration of ideas from many different disciplines as well as the framework for blended care using 'channel switching' to showcase how digital data and technology can enrich physical services. Another contribution is the emergence of 'poly-digital' and a discussion on the challenges of digital mental health, specifically 'digital ethics'.
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Digital mental health interventions may help to address systemic challenges by providing timely, accessible, evidence-based treatments.
“Digital mental health interventions may help to address systemic challenges by providing timely, accessible, evidence-based treatments.12”
From A mindfulness-based, cognitive, social, digital relapse-prevention intervention for youth with depression in Australia: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of Rebound (2024) · cites this paper as [12]
The Introduction identifies treatment gaps and waiting lists as service challenges and says digital interventions could be available 24/7. The Benefits of digital interventions section likewise describes accessible support between therapy sessions. But the Abstract calls for an evidence-based approach to developing digital services and warns that many apps may be inadequate in quality; it does not establish that digital interventions generally provide evidence-based treatments. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAI chatbot-based interventions offer 24/7 support, enhanced self-management, reduced stigma, and appeal to digital-native users.
“These AI chatbot-based interventions offer 24/7 support, enhanced self-management [10], reduced stigma, and appeal to digital-native users [11].”
From Generative AI Mental Health Chatbots as Therapeutic Tools: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Their Role in Reducing Mental Health Issues (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
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“It happened to be the perfect thing”: experiences of generative AI chatbots for mental health
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- Authors
- Bond, R. R., Mulvenna, M. D., Potts, C., O’Neill, S., Ennis, E., & Torous, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Ulster (GB)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bond, Raymond R.
- Venue
- npj Mental Health Research
- Published
- 2023-08-22
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 13-13
- ISSN
- 2731-4251 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10955947
- OpenAlex
- W4386055621
- Cited by
- 199
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 76 · 2025: 84 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 6.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- npj Mental Health Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ulster University Research Portal (Ulster University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- MENHIR project (https://menhir-project.eu/) includes funding/grant income from the European Union Horizon 2020 funding programme. (Grant agreement no. 823907)
- Atlantic Futures project (https://www.atlanticfutures.com/). (HEA North-South research programme.)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Keywords
- digital mental health, digital interventions, artificial intelligence in mental health, digital phenotyping, ecological momentary assessment, blended care, channel switching, adjunctive therapy, real-world data, mental health apps, app quality, user retention, technological solutionism, digital ethics, co-production, systems thinking
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