The Connection between Exercise, Depression, and Anxiety

Mark Hirschhorn functions as the president, COO, and CFO of telehealth therapy company Talkspace. Outside of work, Mark Hirschhorn enjoys keeping active by running, cycling, and playing tennis. Regular exercise has a number of mental health benefits, including alleviating the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Multiple studies have shown that regular exercise is as effective as antidepressant medications at treating mild to moderate depression. A recent study completed at Harvard University showed that running for 15 minutes or walking for an hour each day reduced the risk of major depressive disorder by more than 25 percent. Exercise promotes neural growth and releases endorphins, which can function as a sort of natural antidepressant.

These qualities also make exercise a good option for treating anxiety. Exercise can relieve tension and reduce stress while boosting overall energy. To treat anxiety, exercise is especially helpful when practiced mindfully. Paying attention to how your body feels during exercise interrupts the flow of worries that is characteristic of anxiety. 

ArisGlobal’s LifeSphere Platform Boosts Big BioPharma Effectiveness

Mark Hirschhorn serves as president and COO of Talkspace, a top-rated online mental health services platform. Talkspace connects clients with licensed therapists in a secure environment, allowing them to share information and questions in real-time and meet in scheduled private videoconference sessions. The growth and strength of the Talkspace user experience are supported by Mark Hirschhorn’s two decades of working in positions of major responsibility in digital and media software companies, including ArisGlobal.

ArisGlobal continues as a leader in helping to ensure the safety of developing medications by supplying sophisticated and cloud-based pharmacovigilance support services. ArisGlobal helps biopharma companies internalize their safety vigilance across an integrated platform and an end-to-end automated process, allowing them to seamlessly coordinate safety data while achieving pioneering product development and cost-efficiency.

The company’s LifeSphere Multivigilance 10 life sciences software serves as one of the world’s most effective tools for helping pharmaceutical manufacturers build out their core drug development activities safely and effectively. In August 2020, ArisGlobal announced that a Top 5 Big BioPharma company had chosen to deploy the LifeSphere safety platform to serve as the cornerstone of its growing pharmacovigilance technology development.

The company, which had relied on a legacy platform to support its safety needs, pivoted to LifeSphere as part of a modernization effort that will help it address the immediate issue of handling an increasing volume of adverse-event cases while increasing its global competitiveness and reach over the long term. 

Talkspace Opens up New Therapeutic Insights for 1 Million Clients

President and chief operating officer of the pioneering online therapy platform Talkspace, Mark Hirschhorn directs the work of a company dedicated to providing high-quality, affordable, and confidential mental health services. The platform’s 1 million clients have access to trained, licensed therapists specifically matched to them. Mark Hirschhorn and his team have structured Talkspace to respond to the unique needs of each client, all within private and secure online therapy rooms, videoconferences, messages, and chats.

Talkspace has received top ratings directly from its clients. In one personal testimonial posted on the platform’s website, a client noted that their therapist was the most compassionate and effective therapist they had ever encountered, with a genuine desire to get to know them and understand their individual needs.

Another client, a first-time user of mental health therapy services, wrote that their Talkspace therapist provided helpful new insights and suggestions that the client would never otherwise have thought of. Another client stressed the effectiveness of the real-time Talkspace environment, which allowed them to communicate information to their therapist as issues arose instead of having to wait for an appointment and the possibility of having forgotten things that would have been important to bring forward.

A Cancer Research Charity That Focuses on Children’s Needs

Mark Hirschhorn has served in multiple executive capacities with some of the most innovative emerging and growing companies in the digital services sphere. Currently president and COO of digital behavioral therapy platform Talkspace, he previously supported operations, compliance, and investment as CFO of pharmacovigilance support provider ArisGlobal and served as executive vice president and CFO of media software applications provider RCS/Media Monitors. In addition, Mark Hirschhorn is a dedicated supporter of nonprofit organizations such as the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation (NPCF).

Working with leading physicians and scientists, NPCF focuses on funding research efforts and clinical trials with the aim of developing treatments that will be less toxic, less invasive, and more comfortable for young patients and their families. As its team works to ultimately conquer childhood cancer, it seeks to boost current rates of survival and help reduce side effects of existing treatments.

NPCF’s work is particularly important in light of the fact that the majority of cancer research centers on the physiology of adult patients. As most traditional treatments are geared toward adults, medication dosages are often simply reduced to correspond to lower-weight bodies when treating children. But children’s physiologies are categorically different, which can result in needless misdiagnoses, complications, and side effects that might not happen if more were known about their unique needs.

While traditional fundraising initiatives have largely neglected pediatric cancer, NPCF is noted for its targeted research in the fight against the disease.