As COVID-19 continues to impact mental health and access to treatment in the UK, medical device company Flow is reporting a 247% increase in sales of its at-home, brain stimulation headset treatment for depression with 30% of its users overcoming depression during the pandemic.

As England is once again in lockdown, new research shows the rate of ‘lockdown loneliness’ and its impact on mental health is as high as 27% in the UK. As the NHS strains to support an increase in mental health conditions, the Flow headset and therapy app treatment for depression, the first of its type to be medically approved in the UK and EU, aims to tackle ‘lockdown loneliness’ and mental health outc...

In the largest user analysis of its type, 81% of patients using a brain stimulation headset and therapy app to treat depression reported feeling better after three weeks, with minimal side effects. Flow is the first drug-free, at-home treatment of its type to be medically approved in the EU and UK.

Mental health startup, Flow has become the highest scoring free depression treatment app in the ORCHA App Library. The inclusion means that many NHS trusts and healthcare professionals, who have their own bespoke App Library using the ORCHA platform, can now include Flow in their library and directly recommend it to their patients to reduce symptoms of depression - particularly during the current coronavirus pandemic.

According to WHO, depression is the number one cause of disability worldwide. As the coronavirus pandemic exacerbates, telehealth services to treat mental health conditions remotely, including Flow Neuroscience, may become widespread, as part of social distancing efforts.

Some of the UK’s Harley Street outpatient clinics specialising in delivering expert mental health support have partnered with Flow Neuroscience to offer patients a new medically approved brain stimulation headset to treat depression. The type of brain stimulation used in the Flow headset has been shown in independent clinical studies to have a similar impact to antidepressants but with fewer and less-severe side effects.

A chatbot therapist to treat depression has launched as recent figures show that NHS patients seeking help with their mental health are waiting more than eight weeks to see a doctor after their first appointment.

Medical device company, Flow, claim to be the first and only medically approved treatment for depression of its kind in Europe, has announced it has raised $1.5m in an investment round led by Khosla Ventures to tackle the world’s most urgent mental health challenges. The investment will be used to support Flow’s European rollout, introduce Flow to healthcare clinics, and fund clinical studies.