The Psych Club

The Psych Club -- an online platform that connects psychiatrists with patients, providing AI-powered screening for psychiatric disorders.

Our solution is an online platform that connects those seeking psychiatric expertise and social support with certified psychiatrists and a welcoming, like-minded community. The three hallmarks of our solution are these: online screening assessments to help triage patients for psychiatrists, appointment scheduling, and private discussion groups. The online screening of psychiatric disorders involves using state-of-the-art computational psychiatry approaches involving the use of AI [1]. After a member undergoes screening using these assessments, we use the results to help triage patients for in-person/virtual consultations with certified psychiatrists for formal psychiatric assessments and official diagnoses. The platform includes private discussion groups that are meant to be safe spaces for members to receive social support from like-minded peers, and all discussion groups are moderated by certified psychiatrists who can step in to help dispel misinformation.

[1] https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2021/11/how-ai-could-help-screen-for-autism-in-children/

According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, mental, neurological, and substance use disorders make up 10.4% of all disability life-years (DALYs) in 2010 [1], which means that psychiatric disorders or a large proportion of all disabilities. One problem The Psych Club aims to solve is that current diagnostic tools are sometimes inaccurate and usually time-consuming [2]. In addition, a pressing problem is how challenging it is today for those seeking psychiatric support, both in terms of finding psychiatrists and in terms of finding a private like-minded community. Booking appointments with psychiatrists is a two-way scheduling problem: Psychiatrists are overwhelmed by the huge number of psychiatric patients seeking their expertise, and psychiatric patients have trouble with finding psychiatrists with the bandwidth to help. One in five Americans have a mental health problem, and the demand of psychiatrists has grown due to greater awareness of mental health treatment among the general public. Nonetheless, the number of psychiatrists has been on a decline as most are above the age of 55 and nearing their retirement age [2], and researchers at the National Council for Behavioral Health predict that in 2025, demand may outstrip supply by 6,090 to 15,600 psychiatrists [3].

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/b...
[2]https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/addressing-escalating-psychiatrist-shortage
[3] https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Psychiatric-Shortage_National-Council-.pdf

Not only does our solution serve the one in five Americans who have a mental health problem [1], but it also serves the psychiatrists overwhelmed by the number of people seeking their consultation and care. Within the US alone, there are 250,540 psychiatrists, as psychiatry is the specialty within medicine with the highest number of people, according to the American Psychiatric Association [2]. With our patient triaging and scheduling services, in which we prioritizing patients who require more immediate and intensive care as assessed using AI. This will help relieve the schedules of psychiatrists, help provide more immediate and accurate feedback for patients, and improve the mental health of patients both through the help of psychiatrists and through the interaction with a friendly like-minded online community.

[1]https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/addressing-escalating-psychiatrist-shortage
[2]https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2018.11b1

Sharon and Isabel have both personally experienced the challenges around seeking psychiatric help, particularly being turned away by psychiatrists during times of need to simply because the psychiatrists around us did not have the capacity to take additional patients; their schedules were overbooked, and with too many patients but too little time, were stretched to their limits. Having undergone the difficulties around accessing psychiatric services, we deeply empathize the needs of our user base.

Sharon also has experience providing psychiatric help. While pursuing her graduate degree, Sharon began a rigorous training process and volunteering at an online mental health support center, where hundreds of visitors seek mental health support daily. Through her work with that organization, she has served as an online counselor and accumulated wisdom about the concerns of those seeking mental health support.

Complementing Sharon's background, Isabel has conducted extensive research on the challenges around connecting with mental health professionals and has analyzed the issue through the lens of a product analyst and operations research engineer. While researching solutions that address this need, she has found that none effectively mitigate the bottlenecks in the patient's process of finding quality psychiatric care. Moreover, Isabel has conducted field research to inform product development, having spoken with mental health professionals to understand their challenges. With these insights, Isabel brings an intimate understanding of psychiatrists and patients in The Psych Club's user base that is key to development of an optimal product for this underserved market.

Our team has moved past the concept stage and nearing the end of the prototype stage: After gaining experience and training on working with our target audience, conducting research on the techniques of computational psychiatry for real-world use, and thinking through how to develop a scalable software product, we have designed and developed a complete prototype to serve The Psych Club's target users. We have the platform in place for members to perform each of the three hallmarks of our solution: members are able to take self-assessments, book appointments with psychiatrists, and participate in private discussion groups. From the self-assessments, and we are able to collect their assessment responses for further analysis as we continue our ongoing computational psychiatry research and continue to nurture collaborations with computational psychiatrists.

Software is the core technology that powers this solution. The computational psychiatry online assessments based on AI, the forum for the user community, and the calendar/booking system are all implemented through software.

Our solution does not serve anyone yet since we having launched our solution. With our core experience being in the realm of anxiety disorders, we plan to reach out to key members of our intended user base: young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 with anxiety disorders and mental health professionals currently practicing in the United States by the end of the year. We plan to focus on this age group first because this is the group most likely to adopt new social media platforms among the adult age ranges, and it is also the group that we connect the most with, as we are in the middle of this age range. Specifically, 22.3% of people in the US within this age range are said to have experienced an anxiety disorder within one year [1].

[1] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder

Goal 1: 5% of all psychiatrists in the US are on The Psych Club by the end of 2022.

Goal 2: Decrease misinformation about and remove stigma of psychiatric disorders.

Goal 3: Increase the satisfaction of both psychiatrists and psychiatric patients with in-person psychiatric services.

Goal 1: 5% of all psychiatrists in the US are on The Psych Club by the end of 2022.

Measurement Plan: The backend databases of our web and mobile platforms, along with Google Analytics, will provide the data regarding the number of psychiatrists on The Psych Club. We will check that 13,000 psychiatrists will have their services placed on the website for members to book appointments with them. Of those psychiatrists, 100 will be active moderators of the private discussion groups.

Goal 2: Decrease misinformation about and remove stigma of psychiatric disorders.
Measurement Plan: Surveys will be conducted on the general population asking respondents about psychiatric disorders. Data on the number of people who feel extremely comfortable or somewhat comfortable interacting with those with psychiatric disorders will be collected.

Goal 3: Increase the satisfaction of both psychiatrists and psychiatric patients with in-person psychiatric services.
Measurement Plan: Data from Google Maps and Yelp can provide information about reviews of psychiatrists. Surveys will be conducted in psychiatrists to provide information about satisfaction of psychiatrists who use The Psych Club.

• Technical barrier: computational psychiatry techniques for diagnosis of psychiatric disorders is still in its nascent stage and the results may not be accurate, so there is much to improve with our triaging service
• Financial barriers: we want to incentivize psychiatrists to sign up on our platform, but if there aren't many users, then psychiatrists won't feel that it's a useful platform for them to get more patients, and if there aren't enough psychiatrists available, there won't be enough users who find the platform helpful enough for them to use it.
• Market barrier: there are many social media platforms on the market, and there are many pop psychology platforms that clutter the market, perhaps preventing internet users from finding our platform

Working as a software engineer at a social networking company, Sharon has experience with what it takes to help coordinate person-to-person connections. Through Sharon's work in her doctoral studies, she has collaborated with affective neuroscientists and conducted research on the psychology of fear and anxiety in humans by conducting in-person and field experiments. Sharon has also collaborated with social and decision neuroscientists and conducted research in computational psychiatry. Moreover, she has received training on autism diagnosis in her graduate studies. Combined with her doctoral-level training and experience in computational psychiatry and diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, Sharon has the technical skills to lead the team to deliver the solution.

Outside of school and work, Sharon volunteers at an online mental health support center, where hundreds of visitors seek mental health support daily. Through her work with that organization, she has served as an online counselor and accumulated wisdom about the concerns and wishes of those seeking mental health support.

Isabel has conducted extensive research on the challenges around connecting with mental health professionals and has analyzed the issue through the lens of a product analyst and operations research engineer. While researching current solutions that address this critical need, she has found that none effectively mitigate the bottlenecks in the patient's process of finding quality psychiatric care. Moreover, Isabel has conducted field research to inform product development, having spoken with several mental health professionals to better understand their challenges. With these firsthand insights, Isabel brings an intimate understanding of psychiatrists and patients in The Psych Club's user base that is key to development of an optimal product for this underserved market.

We have plans to potentially partner with faculty advisors who are experts in computational psychiatry for technical advising, which is crucial especially if we plan on building out a diagnostic platform in the future.

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