We’ve surpassed 12 million coronavirus cases in the United States and a quarter of a million deaths. With winter on the horizon, we’re facing another surge of cases and potential corresponding lockdowns. Many of us are worried: about isolation from family and friends; weather-constraints on being outside; or other impacts on our mental and physical health. Indeed, these times also challenge us all to find innovative and adaptive ways of doing things. Technology, like online grocery shopping, conferencing and entertainment, is consistently and reliably at the center of these “work-around” solutions.
The first time we saw a big surge in daily totals of reported cases in the United States was in mid-June. That’s also when Woebot Health decided to survey the people who use Woebot. The use of apps like ours to help people manage anxiety and low mood has surged this year, as higher demand for services outstrips the availability of clinicians. We wanted to see how the pandemic was affecting our users’ state of mind.
What did we find? At the start of the first surge earlier this summer, those who were most at risk, including essential workers and older populations, were faring better than others in terms of their reported mood and anxiety, while people 25 and younger reported more sadness and anxiety than any other age group. We also found an interesting flip side to the pandemic story: many respondents said the situation had helped them to identify personal strengths, increase their appreciation of life and reinforce their interpersonal relationships or spiritual connections.
As the surge continued, we followed a subset of users who agreed to share more about their experiences over the course of six weeks. We asked them the same questions about mood and anxiety every two weeks. Among this group, we saw a statistically significant drop in symptoms of low mood and anxiety over time. At the start, 58 percent of respondents reported significant levels of low mood. This number decreased by half to 27 percent at Week 6. We saw similar reductions in anxiety over the course of the study. The percentage of respondents who screened positive for anxiety decreased by half from 61 percent at the start to 29 percent at Week 6. Despite the larger context of ongoing, serious pandemic impact and concerns, people who were experiencing significant levels of low mood and anxiety were able to get relief, in part through engagement with Woebot.
Indeed, present day zeitgeist reflects the healthcare industry’s need and ongoing effort to rapidly adapt and integrate telehealth as well as purely digital solutions to begin to address growing mental health care needs. Such evidence-based digital mental health care solutions, including ours, are increasingly being seen as a viable first step option for those in need, especially as the mental health care system continues to stretch beyond capacity and waitlist times for clinicians grow. The anonymity and privacy digital solutions offer could also help to reduce the stigma that has prevented people from seeking help in the past.
It’s crucial that, as we deal with consecutive waves of the pandemic and our emotional well-being is tested even further, we continue to explore how digital resources can help people in need. The more we learn about how technology grounded in science can strengthen our skills and support us through challenging times, the better our chances of emerging from this moment victoriously — as physically and emotionally healthy human beings.
