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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Soula app has an AI chatbot, Dua, that aids mothers with postpartum depression support.</li><li>AI chatbots like Dua aim to reduce healthcare burdens and improve mental health access.</li></ul>Caring for a month-old newborn and two-year-old son felt overwhelming for LeRonika Francis.During her first postpartum period, Francis said she experienced a heavy wave of depression while dealing with a baby with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/parenting/why-is-my-newborn-crying">colic</a>. She ultimately sought the help of a counselor. It was not until her most recent pregnancy that she also started to use an AI chatbot on the fem-tech app Soula, which she said helped with reducing depressive symptoms and reassuring her about her mental health."It tells me: 'Welcome back, LeRonika. Your reactions are natural,'" said Francis, who is based in New Iberia, Louisiana.The AI chatbot called "Dua" also sent her some videos that she could watch about self-hugging, a practice that could reduce stress levels."I feel like Dua is there more than anything. It really showed me: OK, this is what you could do. Make sure you make time for yourself, too, because that's important as well," said Francis.Soula was co-founded by Natallia Miranchuk and Andrei Kulik, who conceptualized a 24/7 AI doula that could close the gap in mental health support for mothers during pregnancy and postpartum periods. Rather than replacing medical providers, apps such as Soula aim to increase broader access to maternal healthcare. Healthcare providers said that these apps could also help reduce the burden on the healthcare system, where wait times can be long and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-nurses-strike-labor-union-staffing-shortage-covid-2023-1">workers face burnout</a>.Business Insider spoke with OB/GYN doctors and doulas, who largely welcomed the rise in AI chatbots because they can make information more accessible to patients.According to data obtained from Sensor Tower, Soula now has more than 35,000 downloads. The startup has fundraised over $750,000 and is backed by investors such as Andrey Mikhaylyuk, the former vice president of product at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unicorn-pitch-deck-flo-health-raises-200-million-series-c-2024-7">Flo Health</a>, a period tracking app.Miranchuk told BI that her experiences as a single mother of two and her work as a former maternity photographer inspired her to develop a supportive app for women. Initially conceptualized as a hub to connect doulas worldwide to those in need, the generative AI boom shifted the startup's focus to integrating a chatbot that could serve more populations."Women are shy to ask questions, even in the community, because they have the feeling that maybe 'as a mom, I should have known that, but I don't.' And she doesn't know where to go," Miranchuk said.The ease of customizing ChatGPT has spurred a wave of new AI-based chatbots like Soula. According to Sensor Tower, the companion apps <a target="_blank" href="http://Character.ai">Character.ai</a>, Talkie, and Paradot have more than 73 million collective downloads, soaring more than 130% between 2023 and 2024. AI therapy apps such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wysa-mental-health-startup-raises-fresh-vc-funding-expand-coverage-2021-5">Wysa</a> and Woebot received over 1 million downloads, the data said.Corenia Smith, director of the Birth Justice Collaborative in Minnesota, said that while popularizing tools like chatbots can help broaden healthcare access, it is important to avoid a "one size fits all" and ensure that AI can reflect the communities it serves."There are cultural practices that exist and have existed for thousands of years that people still use," Smith said. "A human could talk about all their experience and what they've seen and give referrals. When you reach that limitation with an AI, it has to have the ability to hand over care or make a referral in a way where people don't feel dropped."<h2 id="245c9b56-b4a4-4a1a-abbc-5f6bbf950f49">The role of a doula</h2>The AI chatbot Dua aims to function like a doula, providing mothers with information about the pregnancy experience during a time of transition.Doulas are trained professionals who can provide non-medical, continuous physical, emotional, and information support for women before, during, and after childbirth, helping to <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10292163/">reduce</a> mental health-related morbidity for the mother and reduce infant mortality rates.Access to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/reproductive-health/what-is-a-doula">doulas</a> can be costly. While there's Medicaid coverage for doulas in several states, not all private health insurance plans cover these expenses. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613821003120">Long wait times and socioeconomic inequality</a> also contribute to increased levels of stress and lack of healthcare usage among mothers and pregnant people."Traditionally, it's been something that's been available only to folks with a lot of money and a lot of resources. The people that benefit the most from doula care are those that might not trust the healthcare system," said Dr. Devon Rupley, an attending physician and OB/GYN specialist at NYC Health. "That tends to be people of color who've had previously negative experiences with racism and bias that can really harm their experience in the healthcare system generally."Rupley added that using an AI healthcare app to address basic questions can allow patients to spend higher-quality time with doctors by asking high-level questions and discussing their healthcare issues.<div type="image" title="Dua, an AI chatbot, talks to the user with texts." height="3000" width="4000" msid="114502558" hostid="261" sizebytes="72158"></div><h2 id="7b015d0f-002f-4d99-8f8d-2ae73851d6bc">How to design an empathetic AI chatbot</h2>Soula enlisted real-life doulas to help train its chatbot and strike the right tone."We can't create it to be as personable as talking to a real-life person, but we can try to create that as much as possible," said Lexi Pacheco, a doula from Arizona who worked to help refine the dialogue in Soula's chatbot Dua. For $22 per hour, she helped improve the chatbot by using it "hand-in-hand" during her pregnancies, adding in her expertise.While asking questions on Google could yield more informational responses, Pacheco said mothers would want something that provided "more of that reassurance that Google wouldn't."For Armani Grant, a Soula user who became pregnant at 18, Google felt overwhelming. The chatbot allowed her to ask questions that she wouldn't feel comfortable asking her mother. Pacheco said many women she's worked with reported similar experiences."They might even feel incompetent to ask the question, which no woman should ever feel, but with my history of working with people, they definitely tend to revert to: I'm sorry, I'm asking this question for some reason, and that might just be because of the societal pressure that more medicalized doctors have put on people that they don't give the time and day to us," Pacheco said.The app isn't meant to completely replace a doula. Moreover, retention rates of AI healthcare chatbots can be low, said Johannes Eichstaedt, a computational social scientist and assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University. The high dropout rates for healthcare apps are "an elephant in the room," he said.At the same time, Pacheco said AI bots can help "calm nerves" and fill the gaps when patients feel they are "bothering" their healthcare providers."AI isn't like a healthcare provider to give you guidance, but it's supposed to be there to give you a little bit more comfort," Pacheco said.

The AI app Soula seeks to improve healthcare access for pregnant women

<ul class="summary-list"><li>When I was a kid, summer sounded like the best thing ever. </li><li>Now that I'm an adult, it gives me anxiety because there's so much to do. </li></ul>In childhood, summer felt simple: six weeks <a href="https://www.insider.com/family-doesnt-enroll-kids-in-summer-camp-do-unstructured-play-2023-4">off school</a>, at minimum, felt like an endless stretch of blue skies, freedom, and opportunity, punctuated by a family holiday or a local play date. Yet, as an adult, it seems like an impossible dilemma.Either I fear missing out on a socially-reinforced bucket list of hot weather cliches — like picnics, barbecues, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/things-should-never-do-at-coachella-biggest-mistakes-from-local">music festivals</a> — or instead suffer <a href="https://www.insider.com/guides/health/mental-health/burnout-symptoms">the burnout</a> that comes from trying to keep up with the Joneses. While getting the balance is never easy, I'm finding it particularly hard this summer.<h2>I've been feeling lonely</h2>I recently returned to London after 18 months of digital nomadism, and I realized I'd fallen out of the loop with my usual crowd. "My weekends are booked up until October!" a close friend lamented, while another complained about the money she was spending on European destination weddings. Meanwhile, I silently judged myself for my comparatively empty social calendar.Single and living alone, I know my life stage is one that renders me less socially committed than my married and/or parent friends — but while I normally take joy in solitude, lately, it's felt more akin to loneliness. While there are clearly like-minded souls on <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/being-lonely-in-the-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a>, social media at large makes my feelings of loneliness and FOMO much worse. The weekend I arrived home to London, an ill-advised Instagram scroll assured me everyone I know is at a countryside wedding or a music festival with a crowd of friends I don't recognize.<a href="https://beonworldwide.com/why-social-media-must-be-active-during-summer/#:~:text=During%20this%20season%20of%20the,nearly%20double%20that%20other%20seasons." target="_blank" rel="noopener">I've since learned</a> that we share double the amounts of social posts during summer compared to any other time of the year — which deals a double blow if you're already feeling lonely.<h2>Summer loneliness is common</h2>Smriti Joshi, a clinical psychologist working with mental health app <a href="https://www.wysa.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wysa</a>, assures me that summer loneliness is a common experience. One reason is the disruption of routine that tends to happen — for instance, close friends or family may be on holiday at this time, or if they're parents, they may be more preoccupied with childcare during the school break. She also mentions the "comparison culture" that comes from using Instagram — something which may well be made worse by a greater number of posts. This, paired with the higher "social expectation" we put on the summer months, may well leave us feeling lonely.And yet, the alternative is far from perfect. More recently, my solution, as a presently childfree 30-something, has involved sending out a flurry of texts, making back-to-back plans, and booking tickets to an aggressive summer lineup of outdoor gigs, al fresco dinners, and open-air boat events. Yet this has sent me into social overdrive and, sometimes, burnout.A number of Joshi's clients experience social anxiety during the summer months. One reason is increased exposure to challenging social situations full of unfamiliar faces, like summer company parties or weddings. "If you already have social anxiety, this can be overwhelming — you feel like you want to withdraw," Joshi said. Another lesser-spoken-about factor, she adds, is the stress of body image concerns, which can be triggered by the expectation to wear less clothing in warmer weather. There's also the risk of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) — yes, the condition most typically associated with the deepest depths of winter. "Some people have a physiological disposition to SAD in summer," Joshi said, "Experiencing irritability, frustration, and mood changes in response to light sensitivity and longer days and increased brightness and heat."Even if you don't necessarily experience summer SAD, scientists have found that levels of cortisol — the stress hormone — <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180425131906.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spike more in summer</a> compared to winter. This is certainly news to those of us who equate sunshine with an aptly "sunny" mood. Summer, like any other season, has its inherent ups and downs, and that's normal. Whether you're having the most socially-anxious summer of your life or experiencing what feels like unseasonal loneliness, you're not alone.

Summer gives me social anxiety. I feel like I'm always missing out on plans.

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-healthcare"></a><div type="image" title="Spill video therapy" height="1502" width="2000" msid="83780253" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Startups are using technology to expand access to basic <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword> services and preventive care.</li><li>Despite limitations, <keyword id="2147060" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="digital-health">digital health</keyword> apps are still helping to chip away at the mental health crisis.</li><li>By even just taking therapy online, these companies are forging a brighter future for mental health.</li></ul>When it comes to treating mental illness within the broken US <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare">healthcare</keyword> system, few good solutions that suit most people's healthcare needs and budget exist. Despite a push to destigmatize common conditions like depression and anxiety, the vast majority of Americans still face systemic barriers in treating their mental health conditions. For those priced out of mental health services covered by Medicaid, even the cost and hassle of private or insurance-backed therapy translates into fewer people getting the care that could help them manage their conditions.This combined need for mental health services is dizzying in its scale and scope. While the existing healthcare system is nowhere near a major overhaul, a new crop of technology-enabled options targeting milder conditions and prevention hope to chip away at the larger problem. Through online therapy for both groups and individuals, startups like <keyword id="9020936" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="talkspace">Talkspace</keyword> and Real are taking a direct-to-consumer approach to facilitating basic, digitally accessible talk therapy."We're building for preventative care," Real's founder, Ariela Safira, previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-raised-10-million-for-a-preventive-mental-health-app-2021-4">told Insider</a>. <h2>There's 'definitely a place' for teletherapy in solving the nation's mental health crisis</h2>Clinical psychologist Adrian Aguilera, the director of University of California, Berkeley's Digital Health Equity and Access Lab, said the bottom line of most digital health companies is to make the most money, using the scalable aspect of technology to achieve that.That doesn't always overlap with addressing the country's mental health crisis."The system is totally bifurcated and screwed up," Aguilera said, particularly for Medicare and Medicaid patients. At the same time, Aguilera said there's "definitely a place" for teletherapy options. However, just increasing access to mental health providers, even via mobile app, is not enough. Although the pandemic's relaxed regulations provided "the perfect pressure" test for digital mental health options, a recent TIME/Harris Poll nationwide survey found that although overall telehealth usage doubled, <a href="https://time.com/6071580/teletheraphy-mental-health/">only 5% of respondents got mental healthcare</a> for the first time during the height of COVID-19. This suggests that telehealth expansion didn't necessarily help patients new to mental healthcare into treatment."Something my mentor drilled into me is that we currently do not have the ability to meet the need of everyone who wants one-on-one therapy - we simply do not," Aguilera said. "So if we tried to help everybody who needed it, we just could not do that."What excites Aguilera most are less flashy aspects of digitally enabled mental health services.For example, in a recent depression study, Aguilera paired <a href="https://www.jmir.org/2017/5/e148/">texting with in-person group therapy,</a> measuring if an automated text reminder improved attendance and thus treatment adherence. Aguilera and his team found that patients who received the reminder stayed in therapy significantly longer than those who didn't receive a text message, supporting the initial hypothesis of the study.<h2>How mental health startups want to integrate data science and AI into treating depression and anxiety</h2>To what extent venture-funded mental health startups can tackle the worst of the nation's mental health crisis is remains to be seen.Talkspace, for instance, tends to limit itself to "those with lower acuity," compared to more severe diagnoses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, according to a Talkspace spokesperson. However, it does have clients with those conditions. "We define lower acuity as patients who are able to manage care on their own," the spokesperson said. "For example, they are patients who, outside of occasional episodes, can take care of their family and go to work most of the time."Others, like Ginger, have a system of mental health services that encompasses behavioral health coaching as well as therapy from a fully licensed practitioner. Ginger in April <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-taps-startup-ginger-for-virtual-mental-healthcare-coverage-2021-4">partnered with Cigna</a>, extending its reach to the major insurer's 14 million members.Startups are already using advancements in predictive data science and AI to try to better match their patient-users with their offered mental health services. Brightside, a mental health startup that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-mental-health-startup-brightside-series-a-pitch-deck-2021-5">recently raised $24 million</a>, takes teletherapy one step further by adding medication management and diet and mood tracking components within their app. It also uses past patient treatment and outcomes to recommend new users' best course of treatment. Others, like Wysa, are aiming to remove humans entirely from lower level mental health services. Its AI-powered chatbot interface, which just raised $5.5 million in May, has 3 million users, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/21/mental-health-app-wysa-raises-5-5m-for-emotionally-intelligent-ai/">TechCrunch reports</a>.Largely aimed at people who "just want to vent," founder Jo Aggarwal told TechCrunch that Wysa's goal is not to diagnose or treat formal mental health conditions. Instead, it's meant to serve as an additional tool for managing stress around sleep, anxiety, and relationships. If a user's conversations in Wysa correlate with higher scores on traditional depression and anxiety questionnaires, the chatbot will suggest traditional therapy. Aggarwal said many of Wysa's predictions are the product of over 100 million conversations it's hosted since she started working on it in 2016. <h2>A better future in mental healthcare depends on whatever forms prevention can take</h2>Most of these mental health startups largely work within the existing system, often with large insurers or by using a consumer-first approach that prices out low-income patients. As a result, they ignore the healthcare needs of those unable to pay for their services.Still, by creating a variety of online options for tech-literate US consumers, the startups are furthering the development of a mental health system that prioritizes preventing, rather than treating, mental health diagnoses.With the nation's increasing mental health burden, it's a step in the right direction.

Through expanding access to basic care, mental health startups are working toward a healthcare system where prevention comes first

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The AI app Soula seeks to improve healthcare access for pregnant women

Helen Li

Summer gives me social anxiety. I feel like I'm always missing out on plans.

Francesca Specter

Through expanding access to basic care, mental health startups are working toward a healthcare system where prevention comes first

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