SOUTH KOREA SETS ITS SIGHTS ON DIGITAL TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION.
It is intending to put
$26.2 million in a research programme using games and computer-generated
reality for treating mental disorders.
The South Korean Ministry
of Science and Information and Communications Technology is planning a 30
billion won ($26.2 million) investment in a research program to develop a
digital treatment for depression.
WHY IT MATTERS
Given a news report by
Seoul-based news agency Yonhap, the number of South Koreans with depression in
2019 went up to 800,000; the figure was projected to continue rising because of
the effect of limitations mounted against the Coronavirus pandemic.
The research program will
see the development of a digital service offering personalised depression
diagnoses dependent on the real-time collection and analysis of patient data.
The help will likewise
give preventive measures against psychological sickness by using cell phones
and other cell phones. Potential advanced medicines incorporate games and
augmented reality.
The report noted that the
Science and ICT Ministry already put away 14 billion won ($12.3 million)
throughout the following four years for the said research program, while the
private sector additionally made a 14.9 billion won ($13 million) investment.
It was likewise reported
that Naver Cloud of South Korean Internet giant Naver Corp. was tapped to
assemble a cloud infrastructure for the program's digital platform.
THE LARGER TREND
Digitally enabled
treatments are seen as alternatives to conventional methods of treating mental
health conditions.
Last month, South
telecommunications firm KT Corporation entered into a strategic partnership
with United States-based bioelectronics developer Neuro Sigma to together
create and market new electronic treatments for neurological and neuropsychological
disorders, like ADHD, depression and epilepsy.
A year prior in July,
Orexo uncovered its most last digital treatment called deprexis for treating
symptoms of depression. Another digital health company UpLift Health made a
portable application that uses cognitive behavioural therapy to help people
dealing with depression. It provides 12 rounds of a 45-minute of the
chatbot-guided meeting where users can address questions, take mental health
exercises and receive feedback and guidance.
In the interim, an auxiliary of Google's parent Alphabet, X, uncovered in November that it was working away at a project called Amber to spot biomarkers of depression. Let's wait how the world discovers and treats depression.