Mental Health Design : mind restoration with designs

The seemingly never-ending Covid-19 pandemic is a major factor for the declining mental health of people of all ages. Teenagers, workers, and retirees alike have accumulated a lot of stress from dealing with a number of issues and bad news in their lives. Some even lost their family members. The disheartening situations are not easy for anyone. In 2020, an analytics and advisory company, Gallup, which has been continuously studying the global emotions level revealed that this has been the highest negative emotions level in their 15 years of study.

 

Usually, there are signals in physical illness but mental illness would slowly creep up and accumulate without even realising. Therefore it is crucial that you regularly check up on your mental health and keep up the spirit amid uncertainty. Experts in many fields are searching for solutions for societal healing with research and innovations restoring people’s mental health. Let’s see what innovations are out there to help restore people’s minds.

 

The App that Looks Out for You

Mental health application startups have been developing for a while now. Their users kept growing in the times where everyone was feeling down. ORCHA researchers said that during the Covid pandemic and the lockdowns mental health apps usage increased 200%. The main reason is, people turn to apps to deal with their increasing depression and prevent them from hurting themselves.

 

In the eyes of designers and investors, the health technology market is quite saturated. But there is still room for new improvements like the Exhale app that is specifically designed for black-African, coloured, and indigenous women mental restorations. The therapeutic app functions especially with a deep understanding of a particular group of people and knowing their deep wounds. The app became a space where they can trust and enjoy their mental healing journey. Because they know they are in good hands. Exhale app also received a Webby Award in Apps and Software Health & Fitness 2021. Also, the app developers already have plans for wider expansion for other communications in the future.

 

Are you feeling ok? Monsters know best

Research shows that 74.6% of young Thais accumulated a lot of stress and anxiety from online learning. In the news, many young ones even decided to end their lives. The issue of mental health in young people is as big as in adults. Many groups of adults are trying to find solutions to help and heal these young people. One of many projects is “Meet Your Monster”, a work of the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), Glow Story and a team of MASTERPEACE researchers have brought in a psychotherapy tool and revamped it. Making it friendlier and relatable for the target audience by creating 4 “Monsters” that represent characteristics and attributes of hidden anxiety to cheer the young up, assist them to a deeper understanding of themselves and know how to properly handle their emotions. This project has recently received an award in Creative for Sharing from Adman Awards & Symposium 2020-2021. Interested young people, can check up the basic mental health here at https://meetyourmonster.paperform.co

 

New Therapy, No Contact

Mindbody have been researching the trend of caring for the health of America and found 31% of Americans are interested in trying a new form of mind and body healing therapy services with no direct contact due to the covid-19 concerns. Services like Cryotherapy, Pressure Therapy, Hyperbaric Therapy, Salt cave, Infrared Sauna, and Hydro-Floating Therapy are therapeutic methods that are gaining more interest in other countries. And there are more services like this increasingly available in Thailand.

 

In the City full of advancements like New York City, a studio called ReCOVER focuses on combining new technology with psychotherapeutic methods, founded by Rick Richey and Aaron Drogoszewski who have been in fitness circles for 40 years. They realised a gap between relaxing spa and physical revitalisation therapy, thus they tried to combine the two and it has been very well-received. An interesting psychotherapy machine NuCalm helps de-stress and anxiety improves sleeps through brain stimulation with soundtracks therapy, generates GABA nourishment for the brain and blindfolds the eyes for relaxation, making a 30-minute therapy feels like 2-3 hours deep power nap which makes the body feels calm and relax.

 

Restoration, No matter where you are

The lockdowns during Covid-19 caused many places to temporarily close. But human creativity never stops and many interesting projects are popping up around the world. We will show you some. The first project of The Rubin Museum of Art created therapeutic programs for people to heal in Buddhist ways. The online exhibition that became the most popular is the room with a 2-hour long video clip of Tibetan monks’ prayer. The museum has specially curated the exhibition to be a safe bunker for meditation in times of stress and anxiety.

 

Another interesting project from the Monterey Bay Aquarium invited ocean lovers to relax and meditate with the MeditOcean series of 10-15 minutes video clips that contain the sounds of sea waves rippling, jellyfish floating about, sea turtles gliding around and schools of fish slowly swimming along. Images of artistically displayed sea creatures combined with a soft-spoken sound guiding through the meditation steps create enjoyment and relaxation. This has become another way to bring balance back to the mind that you can easily do yourself at home. It also works very well during the quarantine period and is an interesting idea that inspires more online creative activities in the future.

 

If you are interested in thoroughly knowing more about therapeutic methods and mental restoration through designs, Bangkok Design Week 2022 under the theme “Co With Creation” during 5-13 Feb 2022 is where to go. We brought together mental restoration designs from various perspectives and invite you to “co-think” with us to prepare for future challenges with stronger minds!

 

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