Mainstream Mindfulness, Booming Businesses & the Ever-Growing Economy
Mental Health and the Economy. The Ups and the Downs.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has been at large for over a year now and has brought significant effects on Canadian communities' stress levels. For both children and adults, mental health has been a complicated task for families to manage. Individuals are advised to get off a screen; however, stay-at-home protocols result in nothing but time spent on laptops or phones. Subsequently, new entrepreneurs are finding ways to help ease the strain digitally.
Rather than taking advantage of consumers' poor mental state, companies prioritize these individual industries to create a change — in recent times, the impact has only gone up. In this new industry, three main focuses have shown to be the most successful: new industries, virtual therapy, and social media. Surprisingly, each of these industries has its respective impacts, including calmer populations, future innovation and networking.
Relaxation Industry — New Industries
Although seemingly minimal, creating a relaxing environment online is critical daily. Whether one is working 18 hours a day, or just attending an online class, finding a way to relieve oneself without re-inventing the wheel is in great demand. In a perfect world, stress relief would be resolved in a few deep breaths, but the past year of chaos has shown that we are far from such a state.
New apps about relaxation are most primarily focused on one thing: mediation. Despite the irony of combining mental health with technology, these platforms have found a way to make their way to the top. One of the most commonly known applications is Headspace, prioritizing mediation and sleep. On their platform, they claim one can rid of their stress.
However, the question returns to be: how does this relate to the economy? The platform’s main objective is to bring relaxation to its users, which inevitably provides positive recognition towards these brands. As a growing sector of the workforce, relaxation has transformed from being a simple task to an ever-growing industry.
There still, however, isn’t a great impact on the economy, other than the introduction of new industries. This is where Virtual Therapy comes in, providing proof of what the future of mental health entails for businesses.
Mental Health’s Future — An Economic Recovery & Innovation
Digital mental aid may feel like a futile task, but the psychology and medical industry have recently grown significantly. Virtual therapy and medical appointments have been growing in effectiveness recently, inspiring new adaptations to improve the patient’s and doctor’s behalf' effectiveness and efficiency.
One of the largest factors in this growth is the goal of upward mobility. An inclusive economic recovery will also need to address the crisis in mental health, and improving mental health will require a commitment to new creations. In this sense, virtual therapy and treatment are not only developing the industry but re-establishing communities. Further policies would make healthcare more available to vulnerable groups, such as virtual care, accelerated certifications and lower-cost psychedelic pharmaceutical therapy.
This field is on a path towards a digital future — great development is needed, but mental health will soon play a critical role in the economy of the future. However, mental health and the economy in 2021 have taken a different turn.
Social Media — Networking & The Economy
The idea of getting off social media seems like the perfect scenario; however, several individuals find it extremely difficult to put away their devices. Recently, platforms such as Clubhouse, Twitter voice Spaces and Dogehouse are audio-only app hosts virtual rooms for live discussions, with opportunities for individuals to participate through speaking and listening. The product is heavily marketed as an auditory networking/team management application; however, the platform has opened up to new communities promoting off-screen time.
As an additional benefit, these applications provide stronger development opportunities for companies, which can inevitably promote growth and success. It had all the rage in silicon valley and brought in high-end entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Space X.
Mental health and the economy have demonstrated lots of benefits. New industries were created, future innovation has become absolute, and networking is only growing. Whether it is a doctor or a company wanting to change the path of media, these factors are key in the growth that mental mindfulness has played in our economy.
Financial Disadvantages
On a fiscal note, however, the economy has faced serious consequences from mental health. As per the Canadian Association of Mental Health,
The economic burden of mental illness in Canada is estimated at $51 billion per year. This includes health care costs, lost productivity, and reductions in health-related quality of life.
Over the next 20 years, the worldwide economic burden of mental illness is estimated to exceed $16 trillion, higher than any other non-communicable disorder. This figure includes medical costs, costs from lost productivity due to long-term and short-term disability, and costs to quality of life.
Resolutions
In summary, mental health has played a critical role in the international economy. From a simple relaxation method to a platform to the network without staring at your screen, these strategies create change. Just take a deep breath, relax and think about all the ways you can help change the world — whether you participate in virtual medical sessions or choose raise awareness, there are so many opportunities for one to help pave the path towards a sustainable and aware community.
