Mental Health Technology Standards

: the first public safety standards to set specific design requirements for technologies that influence emotional and mental states, founded on ethical design, zero personal data and psychological safeguards. mhts.org

Seven Safety Standards

Seven published requirements for technologies affecting mental states.

Protection by Design

Safeguards built into the technology, not just its policies.

Public Accountability

Transparent data practices and publicly measured impact.

Contents

  1. 1 Overview What MHTS is, who it serves, the technologies it covers and its relationship to existing digital-health frameworks.
  2. 2 Why It Is Needed Why a dedicated safety standard was needed: the risks of psychological exploitation, behavioural manipulation and inadequate safeguards in technologies affecting vulnerable emotional states.
  3. 3 The Seven Standards The complete MHTS v1.0 requirements, their meaning and practical examples of conforming and non-conforming design.
  4. 4 Using the Standards Practical guidance for incorporating MHTS requirements into product design, software architecture and development processes.
  5. 5 Compliance How developers and organisations can examine their technologies against the published requirements and identify potential non-conformance.
  6. 6 Accountability How technologies should demonstrate psychological safety, measure effectiveness and make relevant information available for public scrutiny.
  7. 7 Governance Voluntary adoption, organisational application, the relationship to existing regulations and the status of MHTS as a public standard.
  8. 8 FAQs Answers to common questions about applicability, privacy, safety, conformance and the adoption of MHTS.
  9. References Research, professional guidance, regulatory publications and other authoritative sources supporting the documentation.

Start reading

Begin with learning what MHTS is and why it matters.

Read the Official Standards

The complete published requirements are available directly from mhts.org.