Time to Have Effective Regulation of the Mental Health Apps Market: Maximize Gains and Minimize Harms.

The increased levels of psychological distress in the population and the disruption of traditional mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic have widened the mental health treatment gap that already existed even prior to the onset of the pandemic.[2] Additionally, there is significant stigma attached to mental-health-treatment seeking, especially in low- and middle-income countries.[3] The culmination of these different factors has provided a fertile ground for the mushrooming of mobile health apps for mental health disorders and wellbeing.[4] People advocating the use of mental health apps (MHapps) often describe the potential of these apps in delivering mental health services discretely to people living in even remote and rural locations, in turn reducing the huge mental health treatment gap. Rapidly increasing smartphone ownership among the majority of the world's population and increasing internet penetration through relatively cheaper mobile data usage plans have led to the development and popularization of various mobile applications (apps).[1] These apps are third-party software apps that utilize mobile and/or other related devices' hardware (e.g., wearable sensors, such as a smartwatch) along with or without internet communication technology and enable users to perform a wide range of different tasks related to varied fields, such as trade, commerce, education, entertainment, or health, through their smartphones. Do mental health mobile apps work: Evidence and recommendations for designing high-efficacy mental health mobile apps. [Extracted from the article]

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