By: Isabel Sanz de Arellano
MSO of Puerto Rico is committed to finding practical and accessible solutions to address the mental health crisis we are going through as a society.
Faced with this pressing need, the specialized team of MMM’s Department of Integrated Mental Health carried out a comprehensive analysis of the conditions that most afflict the population and the barriers between patients and the treatment they need.
From these findings comes My Emotions©. This virtual tool, available in the MMM and MMM Multihealth apps, offers instant access to self-assessments of the most common mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, among others.
One of the most innovative aspects of My Emotions© is its ability to expand access to mental health service coordination, quickly and confidentially. The app sends responses to assessments in real-time to the Mental Health call center. Based on the results, licensed personnel may contact the person to assess the level of risk and refer them to appropriate assistance.
Every day, we witness how mental health in Puerto Rico has been deteriorating. For us, it is a priority to promote comprehensive well-being and provide effective and timely solutions that are tempered to the needs of our people,” said Dr. José Ortiz Rodríguez, director of the Mental Health Department of MMM, the only medical plan in Puerto Rico that has an internal department for the management of mental conditions.
In Puerto Rico, 18.7% of the population between the ages of 18 and 64 has a psychiatric disorder. This figure rises to 23.7% when we include controlled substance abuse. Depression, which is the second leading cause of medical disability in the world, is listed locally as one of the most common mental disorders, followed by social phobia, generalized anxiety, agoraphobia (fear of open places and crowds) and bipolar disorder. However, the stigma and myths around mental health become barriers between the patient and the treatment they need and deserve.
“Faced with these alarming figures, we took on the task of developing an educational campaign through MMM and MMM Multihealth’s social networks to raise awareness among our members and beneficiaries. Let them know it’s valid not to be well, that they are not alone and that, just by accessing My Emotions© from the application on their mobile phone, they can take that first step to stop suffering in silence,” said Ortiz Rodríguez.
Our patients can access the “My emotions” tool through the MMM and MMM Multihealth mobile app. They can download our app through the following link or in this QR Code.
You can download our app through the following QR Code:
Click here to download our app.
