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In Yucatán, Mexico, where suicide rates are twice the national average, the government has implemented a new mental health initiative powered by AI. The centerpiece of this effort is MeMind, a smartphone app designed to assess and monitor suicide risk through AI-driven diagnostic tools embedded in its surveys, according to a report by Rest of World.
How AI-powered app is helping to prevent suicides in Mexico
Since its launch in 2022, MeMind has attracted 80,000 users and, according to officials, contributed to a 9% reduction in the state’s suicide rate.
The app’s main feature is a 15-minute mental health questionnaire that analyzes users’ responses to determine their level of risk. For individuals identified as higher risk, MeMind provides personalized follow-ups and alerts health teams to potential crises. Within just two months of its debut, the app flagged over 200 high-risk individuals, according to former Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal.
Developed in collaboration with Yucatán’s Department of Health, MeMind says it tailors its questions to address local challenges such as domestic violence, alcoholism, and substance abuse—factors strongly linked to suicidal ideation in the region. Importantly, the app ensures user anonymity, sharing data with healthcare providers only with the user’s consent.
En equipo estamos cambiando la atención médica a la salud mental con tecnología y herramientas, como la aplicación #MeMind brindamos orientación especializada sobre salud emocional y atención de especialistas.
📱IOS: https://t.co/N8TwhZu0VV
📱Android: https://t.co/BAQkSfvoMU pic.twitter.com/ulEV1hDNIv— Gobierno de Yucatán (@GobYucatan) August 6, 2024
In August, the government wrote on X (translated from Spanish): “As a team, we are changing mental health care with technology and tools, such as the #MeMind application, we provide specialized guidance on emotional health and specialist care.”
‘Giving people tools’ to help with mental health
Enrique Baca, a psychiatrist from the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain who played a key role in developing the technology behind MeMind, explained how the app was customized for Yucatán. Speaking to the outlet, he said the Spanish-language version was adapted following extensive consultations with the state’s Department of Health.
Baca noted that half of the app’s users are still actively engaging with it after six months. “We identified a necessity, which was to know what was going on in each community, and then to be able to give people tools,” he explained. “Now we have large amounts of useful data on the population.”
Over the last two years, MeMind has flagged 10,000 users in Yucatán as being at risk of suicide, providing them with information about treatment options such as talk therapy and support groups, Baca shared.
However, he acknowledged a key limitation. The app can only track users who log in and complete regular check-ins. This presents a challenge, as young men—the demographic most at risk of dying by suicide—are the least likely to engage consistently with the app.
Baca revealed plans to add chatbot therapy to MeMind, pointing out that users often feel more comfortable engaging with a machine than people.
AI is currently being used in other aspects of mental health. ReadWrite reported in June that brain scans combined with AI led to an important breakthrough in categorizing depression into six unique types, as part of a study conducted by researchers at Stanford Medicine in California.
Featured image: Ideogram
