How Covid-19 has broken barriers to digital mental health treatment

While our social freedoms are curtailed, there are some silver linings for mental health patients, says Sarah Bateup, Chief Clinical Officer for Ieso Digital Health

The trauma caused by Covid-19, to so many, on so many different levels, will take an extremely long time to heal. Covid-19 has affected so many of us. You may have spent time in hospital without support from loved ones, been a family member unable to be there for dying relatives, unable to attend funerals or are a high-risk individual living for weeks in a state of hyper-vigilance. You may work at a hospital as a doctor, cleaner, porter or nurse and seen thousands of people but have been unable to give your usual levels of respect and time. The list goes on.

While we have been experiencing this collective trauma, we have also collectively cared for each other.

I work alongside 700 NHS therapists, and we’ve observed what’s known as the ‘camaraderie effect’ happening across the UK. It’s a mental health phenomenon witnessed during both world wars, where communities and countries pull together against one cause, and as a result, it has a positive effect on the nation’s mental health. It presented itself as a big decrease in suicide rates adults across the globe during wartime, and similarly since lockdown, suicidal thoughts have dropped by 30% in our new patient assessments.

We have analysed over 14,000 new patient referrals and seen this trend, alongside a 10% drop in other symptoms of depression such as tiredness, lack of energy and low self-esteem. All since being asked to work from home and stay at home.

The camaraderie effect has been seen all around us, giving us a nationwide sense of purpose and belonging. NHS clapping and fundraising, shopping runs for neighbours and local support networks are everywhere.

And while we were in lockdown, we’ve seen the NHS embracing online mental health treatment, bringing down barriers to patient access and moving towards a future of more convenient psychological therapy.

The Internet is part of everyday life and yet, prior to lockdown, very few patients had access to psychological therapy online. The barriers to adopting digital methods of delivering psychological therapy have now been broken as psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors and therapists have turned to video, phone and text based methods of delivering treatment. Patients across the country are at last able to access treatment from home at a time that suits them and their therapists.

Extended hours don’t always mean working weekends. Few people want to deal with their mental health at weekends and mental health services have learned, to their surprise, that therapists are very willing to work evenings and enjoy working around their lives and the lives of their patients.

One of the benefits of working using online methods is that therapists who might otherwise be unable to work because of a health related problem, caring responsibilities or access to transport find they can tap into a more flexible work life. Patients no longer have to travel across cities or remote countryside to attend appointments in working hours.

Improving the quality and availability of psychological therapies has been a challenge for many years, but the pandemic has removed those barriers for the benefit of everyone. This is a revolution in mental health treatment, and thankfully, therapists, patients and mental health services want this one silver lining to stay.

Sarah Bateup is Chief Clinical Officer at Ieso Digital Health and chair of the IT special interest group for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. People experiencing depression and anxiety can find digital NHS talking therapy at Ieso Digital Health.