Femtech and mental health – the biggest developments

The rise in femtech over the past few years has brought female health to the forefront of the market. From period tracking apps to fertility support, technology has opened up a whole new world for women looking to take control of their health. But how is the tech addressing women’s mental health concerns? Femtech World reports.

Over recent years, as a population we’ve all been increasingly aware with mental health, with books, courses and apps all being produced to support users’ emotional wellbeing.

In England, around one in five women has a common mental health problem such as anxiety, depression or self-harm.

And the pandemic is said to have disproportionately affected the mental health of women in particular. In fact, research from the US using real-time survey data, found that the gender gap in mental health in the US increased by 66 per cent over the course of the pandemic.

Now, femtech is being leveraged to help women take care of their mental health across a number of spheres – with a number of exciting developments and deals having been launched in recent years.

Maternal health

The magnitude of pregnancy and becoming a parent can often be the trigger for mental health issues in women.

And Covid-19 exacerbated the issue, with the risk for depression during pregnancy doubling during the pandemic, while breastfeeding issues were also magnified, with statistics revealing to a 41 per cent newborn readmittance rate for feeding problems in the US.

To combat the most common issues, in September 2021, women’s healthcare specialist Sonder Health and virtual reality firm BehaVR have teamed up to create NurtureVR, a VR-based digital therapeutic to help expectant mothers with stress, anxiety and fear.

When combined with Sonder Health’s existing services, the platform provides mothers-to-be and new parents with round-the-clock support.

It provides mums and their families with access to 22 weeks of educational material, mindfulness skills and immersive experiences, along with around-the-clock access to specialty-trained telehealth lactation consultants and registered dietitians.

Mindfulness

In October 2020, femtech start-up Clementine raised £1m in equity funding from impact venture capital firm Fortunis.

The female-focused hypnotherapy app, aims to help women find their inner calm, become more confident, reduce anxiety and sleep better.

It offers a range of bite-sized sessions of what it calls cognitive hypnotherapy, a style of talking therapy that encourages a person to shift their mindset, using a combination of soothing music and spoken word to lull users into a sense of calm.

The app was developed by Kim Palmer, who named it after her habit of bringing a clementine into stressful meetings and using it as a subtle tool to quell anxiety, by peeling or holding it to help keep her focused. Many of the hypnotherapy sessions on the Clementine app work in the same way: five-minute recordings designed to easily fit into users’ days.

Banishing worry

Women are statistically more likely to suffer from anxiety than men, although why this should be is unclear.

Worry Tree was developed by lifelong worrier Louise Stevenson, after her husband told her that her anxiety was having a negative impact on every aspect of family life.

The app is one of just 15 approved mental health tools in the NHS app library, and helps users notice and challenge their worries. It is available for anyone to use, but 75 per cent of users are women.

It uses CBT techniques to train people who suffer from excessive worry to notice when they are worrying and try to build more constructive habits of problem-solving and distraction.

Connecting mothers

As well as the physical and emotional changes that accompany pregnancy and motherhood, many new mums suffer from feelings of isolation and loneliness.

The Peanut app was founded in 2017 when Michelle Kennedy had her first child and found there was little social support available.

Having worked in social networking for ten years, Michelle set out to reduce feelings of isolation and make sure no one has to navigate womanhood alone.

Peanut started life as a way of bringing new parents together socially and has since grown and developed to connect women at every life stage – from puberty and pregnancy through to motherhood and menopause – so that women of all generations can access support.

Breast cancer support

One woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 10 minutes in the UK. And while survival rates have improved massively over recent years – when diagnosed at its earliest stage, almost all people with breast cancer will survive their disease for five years or more – it can still be a worrying time.

Charity Breast Cancer Now’s Becca app provides specialist support to help sufferers live with, through and beyond their diagnosis, particularly when it comes to their mental health.

Easy-to-use flashcards give information, support and inspiration to anyone struggling to find their “new normal” following diagnosis.

It includes patient stories, information on side effects of different treatments, menopausal symptoms, fatigue, diet, exercise and body image.