☁️🍄 Issue No. 010: We vs. Me

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Today, we’re exploring a more unorthodox way of looking at depression. Let’s get to it. 

WE VS. ME 

Turning you inward, many modern depression treatments focus on “fixing” individuals.

The premise: Depression arises from neurochemical imbalances or distorted mental models and can be treated with a concoction of drugs and/or therapy.

While these approaches may be an important part of the puzzle, they don’t come close to capturing depression’s full complexity — and how to lead people out of it.

A key, often overlooked component? Your relationships.

THE PARADOX

Over the last few decades, psychiatric medications have become the most common remedy for depression. Antidepressant usage has soared in recent years. Across 18 European countries, consumption increased by nearly 2.5x from 2000 to 2020. 

Meanwhile, the mental health market has seen a proliferation of teletherapy startups, clinics, and apps; the industry is on a tear, projected to reach nearly half a trillion dollars by 2030. 

But a confusing trend emerges... All told, the US spends a staggering $210B on the direct and indirect costs of depression, yet we have one of the highest mental health disease burdens among high-income countries. 

Major depression is now the most common mental disorder in the US, and more and more people, particularly teens and young adults, are suffering from the ail. What’s going on?

KITH AND KIN

Humans are ultra-social creatures. A strong community and meaningful relationships are integral to our well-being. 

• Research shows that securely attached people, who tend to have longer and more satisfying relationships, are more likely to be mentally healthy. 

• A decades-long study from Harvard found that deep relationships hold, by far, the strongest correlation with general well-being.

The state of our relationships? Poor. America repeatedly ranks as one of the most individualistic cultures in the world, and the US loneliness epidemic has reached all-time highs — over 60% of adults report feeling left out or alone.

COVID only exacerbated the problem; we’re now spending less time with friends and more time by ourselves than before the pandemic. Meanwhile, marriage rates are declining as the share of adults living without a partner rises steadily.

These trends aren’t the only things making us depressed. From unhealthy cities to poor nutrition, many of our systems are working against us. 

But at the end of the day, we need each other. Mending our relationship with relationships will be a key part of combating the mental health crisis. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Unwinding the American ethos of individualism will be a daunting task, one that doesn’t happen overnight. 

One approach, relational psychotherapy seeks to cultivate deep, meaningful relationships for healing. James Barnes, psychotherapist and writer, explains:

“Instead of locating the problem ‘in’ the person, relational therapists see distress as arising in the relationship between the individual and the rest of the world. 

Under this paradigm, the therapeutic relationship itself is the core component of healing. The science backs it up — multiple studies have found that the therapist-patient relationship matters as much as the treatment method, if not more. 

Unfortunately, we can’t quite provide deep relational therapists for everyone — the shortage is a continuing challenge. What then?

Across the globe, countries are turning to relational-first models that train and recruit layworkers—one step below mental health professionals—to connect with those in need.

• Community-based care models, from Zimbabwe’s Friendship Bench to Uganda’s StrongMinds, recruit local grandmothers and other laypeople to powerful results. 

• Trieste, Italy’s community psychiatry system is world-renowned, recognized by the WHO, and focused on bringing people out of asylums and into the community. 

Complementing clinical care, peer-to-peer support models like ShareWell and TimelyCare are emerging. And over in wellness, startups like Peoplehood look to help people strengthen their relationships.

Meanwhile, for existing mental health models, small but impactful adjustments can be made. For example, teletherapy platforms may reach millions, but if there’s a constant rotation of nameless providers, a key component of deep healing remains missing. 

Elsewhere, builders in psychedelics and drug development must remember that psychoactives may indeed facilitate powerful transformations, but community and relationships are what make those transformations sticky. 

Punchline: Deep, meaningful relationships are the bedrock of mental and emotional well-being. Individual mental health solutions are useful, but they shouldn’t turn us too far inward or alienate us from our community. They should lead us back to them. 

Mental health operators must prioritize this when crafting solutions. Indeed, it is our very ability to ask for help—to connect deeply with our friends, community, and loved ones—that leads to lasting, wholesale healing.

QUICK HITS

• Training. Numinus launches collection of psychedelic-assisted training courses. 

• Licensing. Oregon issues its first psilocybin manufacturing license to Satori Farms.

• Pivoting. Struggling to raise money, MAPS turns to selling equity.

• Dosing. Microdosing linked to short-term improvements in creativity, mood elevation, and energy.

• Another breach. Cyberattack on Brightline exposes data of 63K minors. [Re-read Issue No. 004: Privacy, Please.]

• Skin in the game. Ketamine topical cream shows potential for PTSD treatment. 

• Big WHOOP. The wearable company teams up with Dr. Andrew Huberman on stress and breathwork protocols. [Re-read Issue No. 009: Breath Works.]

NEWS & TRENDS

1) Psychedelics get real (estate)  

There has been a lot of attention directed toward psychedelic drug development, manufacturing, and training — less so towards the physical infrastructure for the market. As we explored in Issue No. 008: The Synthesis Saga, and with Field Trip’s downfall, not nailing this piece of the puzzle can kneecap startups. 

Now, companies like Healing REIT are looking to buy and renovate clinical space, constructing the future of healing. It’s a compelling alternative to existing approaches, one that many gym franchises already implement successfully. Keep an eye on this budding space. → Read more

2) Pressure’s mounting

As we covered in News & Trends last week, social media companies are increasingly coming under scrutiny for their impact on our mental health. In total, there are nearly 150 product liability lawsuits filed against social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. 

Social psychologist Jon Haidt has alone conducted multiple deep-dives on the effect social media and high-speed internet have on teen mental health, finding damning correlations. 

But, next steps are unclear. Will bans and restrictions really work, or are they missing the heart of the issue? That is, holistic solutions and programs that provide compelling alternatives to scrolling social media, and that help kids and teens get moving, playing, and going outdoors again. → Read more

DEALS & DEBUTS

🎓 Mantra Health, a college digital mental health platform, closed $5M in Series A funding in a round led by VMG Partners. The company will direct the funds towards R&D and developing more mental health solutions for higher education.→ source

🎧 SoundMind, a music therapy platform, closed a $2.25M seed round. The company is working on fighting the mental health crisis, particularly for youths and teens, through the power of music.→ source

🍄 Albert Labs, a Canadian biopharma company, secured C$830K ($613K) from psychedelic pharma investor Cantheon Capital LLC to support clinical trials of its psilocybin-based natural pharmaceutical product. → source

🏞 Headspace donated $150K to the National Park Foundation and is partnering with the organization to provide guided meditations and national parks-inspired content.→ source

🍴 Denny’s is kicking off a series of mental health and wellness summits this April, focused on how companies and individuals can better manage mental well-being. It’ll feature keynote speaker Dr. Daniel E. Dawes, a health equity and policy expert.→ source

📚 TimelyMD, a peer-support mental health platform for higher education, rebranded as TimelyCare and launched a suite of new products for college students.→ source

😴 Ingenio, a wellness marketplace company, bought Simple Habit, a meditation app, for an undisclosed amount. Upon acquisition, Simple Habit will be rebranded to Sleep Reset, a sleep-focused app that the brand launched last year. → source

🎾 Modern Health, a workplace mental health platform, along with the company’s Chief Community Health Advocate Naomi Osaka launched a series of children’s meditations and resources for parents/caregivers.→ source

🦦 Little Otter, a digital mental health platform for children, teamed up with Sana, a health benefits company. The partnership represents Sana’s first mental health partner focused on kids’ mental health. → source

🪴 Mindful Health, a holistic mental health provider, joined forces with Opus EHR, a customizable electronic health record solution for behavioral treatment orgs. The company aims to leverage Opus to facilitate growth and improve efficiency. → source

📣 The Advertising Alliance for Mental Health, a free mental health platform for creatives, launched alongside a six-week podcast-style course. Behind the platform is James Kinney, chief people officer at Media.Monks, who is fully funding the project. → source

🧬 BD², a nonprofit focused on advancing research for bipolar disorder, announced its first $15M grant, directed toward understanding the genetic and biological foundations of the disorder. → source

WHAT I’M READING

• Speaking mushroom. Do shrooms talk? Researchers say yes — well, kind of. Fungi generate electrical signals that bear a “striking resemblance” to human nerve impulses. From wearable fungal biosensors to ecological biocomputers… sky’s the limit. → Double Blind

That’s all this week! As for me, I’m wrapping up my month here in Oahu. Was a lovely time on the island — lots of gorgeous sunsets and great hikes shared with even greater friends. 

Grateful for all of it and onto the next. Let me know if you’re going to be in the Bay Area and want to chat mental health tech! I’ll be around. 

Until next Sunday,

-Mel 

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