Suicide Is an Epidemic — and Therapy Apps Can’t Help
New apps that connect users to therapists are booming, but they aren’t designed to help those struggling with suicidal thoughts
The hardest thing to do when you’re feeling suicidal is to reach out to talk to someone. Therapy apps like TalkSpace and BetterHelp are designed to help make it easier to talk to a therapist by connecting you directly to someone you can message or call any time. But they face a challenge when it comes to helping patients who are suicidal.
According to statistics from a 2019 report from nonprofit Mental Health America (MHA) on mental health in America, a whopping 56.4% of Americans (or over 24 million people) with a mental illness receive no treatment for their condition. The report provides a number of reasons for this — ranging from not having insurance coverage, mental health care not being covered by insurance, or the high costs of care — but the conclusion is staggering. Americans aren’t getting the mental health care they need.
That may be one of the reasons that therapy apps, which connect you directly with a therapist for a weekly or monthly fee, have grown so much in popularity. BetterHelp boasts over a million users, and competitor TalkSpace similarly claims to have had over a million…
