Development of a neurofeedback wearable device to measure mental state

公众对心理健康的态度正在改善，社区、工作场所、学校和政府内部越来越多地承诺改变我们对心理健康的看法。威廉王子和哈里王子等有影响力的大使一直致力于将心理健康的讨论正常化。2016年2月发布的里程碑式的《心理健康五年展望》为英国的心理健康改革制定了明确且无可争辩的议程。我们相信，我们可以帮助这一议程，改善结果和福祉，并解决精神疾病给卫生服务和整个社会带来的更广泛的成本。近年来，这一领域的研究大幅加快。神经科学和心理学学科日益相互联系，导致对干预机制和实际应用的更深入理解；提高了将未来研究和治疗集中在哪里以及如何集中的效率。领先的科学影响者也正在将最新研究的交流转变为以消费者为中心的方案，缩短了发现和广泛可及之间的周期。尽管上述发展前景看好，但今天仍有必要支持那些有心理健康问题的人。在任何一年，每四个成年人中就有一个至少经历过一次可诊断的心理健康问题。各行各业的人都可能受到影响，包括新妈妈、儿童、青少年、成年人和老年人。在英国，心理健康问题是导致残疾的最大原因。每年的经济成本估计为1180亿GB--大致相当于整个NHS的成本。作为一个比以往任何时候都更有压力的社会，心理健康基金会2018年的一项研究发现，在过去的一年里，74%的英国成年人感到压力很大，他们感到不堪重负或无法应对。我们希望为这些人提供个性化的大脑健康数据，帮助他们实现更好的整体心理健康。我们正在开发一种神经反馈设备和相关算法，为人们认知功能的各个方面提供实时和纵向的洞察。这些数据为用户(和/或护理团队)提供了对用户活动对认知功能和/或长期大脑健康的影响的洞察力。这将通过对最有帮助的事情的个性化洞察和研究生活方式因素对普通人群大脑健康的长期影响来开启自我护理。

Public attitudes towards mental health are improving, and there is a growing commitment among communities, workplaces, schools and within government to change the way we think about it. Influential ambassadors such as Princes William and Harry have worked to normalise talking about mental health.The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, a landmark moment, published in February 2016, set out a clear and unarguable agenda for the reform of mental health care in the UK. We believe we can help this agenda, improving the outcomes and wellbeing but also tackling the wider costs of mental ill health to the health service and society as a whole.Research in this area has accelerated dramatically in recent years. Neuroscience and psychology disciplines are increasingly interconnected, leading to deeper understanding of both mechanism and real word application of interventions; improving the efficiency of where and how to focus future research and treatment.Leading scientific influencers are also transforming communication of the latest research into consumer focussed protocols, shortening the cycle between discovery and widespread accessibility.Whilst the above developments are promising there is a need to support those with mental health conditions today. One in four adults experiences at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any given year. People in all walks of life can be affected, including new mothers, children, teenagers, adults and older people. Mental health problems represent the largest single cause of disability in the UK. The cost to the economy is estimated at £118 billion a year -- roughly the cost of the entire NHS. As a society we are more stressed than every before, a study in 2018 by the mental health foundation found that 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope in the past year. We want to support these individuals with personalised brain health data that can help them to achieve better overall mental health.We are developing a neurofeedback device and associated algorithms that provides real time and longitudinal insight into various aspects of a persons cognitive function. The data provides the user (and/or care team) with insight into the effect of the user's activities on cognitive function and/or long-term brain health. This will open up self-care through personalised insights into the things that help most and research into the long term impact of lifestyle factors on brain health in the general population.