Reminder of treatment, behavioral therapy or meditation exercises: a new application aims to better support patients suffering from mental disorders.
“Patients never relapse the day of their consultation, analyzes Dr. Fanny Jacq, psychiatrist, it’s more when they are alone.” With the entrepreneur Benjamin Maquet, in October she launched the application My Sherpa to help patients with mental disorders. The latter can exchange with a virtual conversational agent, or chatbot, have access to information on their treatment, carry out cognitive and behavioral therapy exercises, etc.
Many types of patients can benefit
“The objective of the application is to re-motivate patients, and to help them do the exercises set up by the doctor”, explains Dr. Jacq. All the texts and information present in the interface have been written by doctors. It is intended both for people followed for serious pathologies and for people who are experiencing a temporary depressive episode and who are not followed. All of them can have access to make an appointment with a doctor in the event of a problem. “People can say SOS to the chatbot and the tool offers solutions, including teleconsultation with a doctor within 24 hours.” Early next year, a button on the interface will provide direct access to teleconsultation.
At the same time, it was designed as a global tool by its creators. “In England or the United States, there are already complete solutions, she adds, with My Sherpa, we want to bring together all the bricks of mental health: therapeutic exercises, treatment or sleep monitoring, meditation, etc. By the end of November, doctors, whose patients are users and agree, will be able to retrieve this information on the use of the application: monitoring of treatment, sleep and mood of the patient. “This may allow them to better understand how the patient is doing between two appointments.”
A tool covered by health insurance?
For patients, the application is paying for the moment, €2.99 the first month then €5 per month, in the long term, its creators would like it to be supported. “We are starting a clinical study with 150 user patients, in collaboration with the CNRS and the Brain and Spinal Cord Institute, announces Fanny Jacq, if the results are good, and I think that will be the case, we will do a broader study to become a medical device, then our holy grail would be to obtain reimbursement from social security.” In the meantime, the application could be reimbursed by certain mutual insurance organizations. A thousand people have already downloaded My Sherpa, available only on the Apple Store, it will be on Android by the end of the year.
A lack of access to care
Already co-founder of Doctoconsult, a teleconsultation platform in addictology, psychiatry or nutrition, Fanny Jacq wants to transform the health sector thanks to digital tools. “The lack of access to care for people with mental disorders is a real issue.” Thanks to Doctoconsult and its application, she hopes to fill this void. In France, one in five people suffers from psychological disorders during their lifetime. “That represents 12 million people, 9 million must surely have a smartphone, they are the ones we want to reach”, she announces.
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