Show 318 A Look at AmWell for Anxiety Treatment

As one section of America tries to move forward there are others that are determine to hold on to what didn't work in the past and certainly won't work in the future. 

In this day, do the best you can. That is the lesson to be learned across all of time and space.

I had to record this episode seven or eight times. 

I kept messing up. Mispronounced words. Forgot to explain something. Then there were the birds and the trash truck.

Together. In harmony.

You can aim for perfection, but in the meantime you do what you can.

You might muck it up but do what you can.

In this episode, a window shopping look at AmWell for anxiety treatment and mental health services.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

Discovery Magazine article about possible blood testing for anxiety.

Engadget post on Cerebral sharing data with Meta and other companies.

AmWell Mental Health Pages:

• Information page about anxiety.
• Information page about online therapy
• Information page about prescriptions

Medline Plus page on Telehealth provides information about what telehealth is and some of the pros and cons of it.

The National Institute of Mental Health has a two page brochure with basic description of what is tele-mental care and some of the pros and cons.

Anne Koller Water Meditation videos.

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Show 317 - The BetterHealth Consent Order

There are times when I find myself in unexpected territories. This is one of those times. It is why I'm trying to include more attention to the virtual mental health providers. 

If you have ever listed to a podcast or watch YouTube, you probably have heard or seen something about the company known as BetterHealth. 

You might have seen an advertorial from a social media influencer or from a podcaster. 

Yeah, this is pickle. BetterHealth presented itself as a service that helps users find and connect with behavioral health providers. Not only under the BetterHealth name but also under a number of doing business as names as:

• Faith Counseling - Christian focus therapy
• Pride Counseling - LGBTQ therapy focus
• Teen Counseling - Teens with parent approval
• Terappeutia - Spanish speaking users

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a complaint against the company BetterHealth had customers provide personal identifiable information.

BetterHealth made promises and assurances about the level of privacy and security about user data.

According to the FTC, the company shared user information with social media companies Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest. 

They also shared data to target former users with ads on those platforms.

There is now a consent order that BetterHealth has agreed to follow. One of those things is not to share or sell visitors or users data to third parties.

In this episode, I go over a bit more details but this is the gist of what happened with the company.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

Associated Press news story BetterHelp shared users’ sensitive health data, FTC says

There is a page on the Federal Trade Commissions website where you can obtain the original complaints, and the consent order. 

BetterHealth response to the consent order via their website.

The National Law Review article about the FTC’s One-Two Punch on Data Tracking and Health Privacy

FTC Enforcement Action to Bar GoodRx from Sharing Consumers’ Sensitive Health Info for Advertising

Alternate Browsers, Search Engines and Add-Ons

• Brave Search Engine
• Duck Duck Go Search Engine
• Firefox Focus for mobile devices
• Privacy Badger from the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Vivaldi Browser

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Show 316 Proposed Virtual Prescription Changes

A few years ago in an episode I said:

Anxiety is so much more than the typical stress reaction. 

For some of us, we gag, we choke, we have heart pains, we have chest pains, we have diarrhea, we have gastric distress, we have excessive sweating.

We can't leave our homes. These are not the kind of things you're going to be thinking your way through if your symptoms are that extreme.

 

 And there was a point where my symptoms got that extreme.  I decided to take medication.

I am now on team make informed decisions about taking medication. And once you have made that decision there can be other obstacles. 

Like getting the prescription filled. There is a proposal from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) about applying changes to how prescriptions can be filled via telemedicine. 

This is just a brief overview of how they and other interested parties want to handle this process.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

From the Stanford Medicine Scope Blog,  Cyclic sighing can help breathe away anxiety.

Associated Press news story about restrictions on opiate medication treatment via telehealth providers.

February 24, 2023 U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency press release about proposed rules for issuing medication via telehealth providers. 

Proposed Telemedicine Rules Summary from the DEA

From Very Well Mind, a long post on what are benzodiazepines and the DEA schedule list.

Consumer Version of Merck Manual Drugs Used to Treat Anxiety Disorders

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.