Health Technology can Monitor Depressive Disorder

Nearly 260 million people are estimated to have Depressive Disorders. The condition varies wildly from one patient to the next. People are often left to trial and error when it comes to treatment. Researchers are exploring how health technology, like personalized machine learning and vocal tracking apps, could change the way we monitor and treat these mental health conditions.

According to Jyoti Mishra, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, the Current clinical strategies are siloed and work for about 30% of patients. For over a decade, researchers have explored the potential of personalized medicine for Depressive Disorders . This involves pinpointing subtypes of depression to figure out what treatments might work for different people.Personalized health tech, such as apps or everyday wearable tech like a watch, may make it easier to offer this type of care. Mishra said that personalised medicine is becoming a mainstay in health care, especially cancer therapeutics. We need to make similar forays in mental healthcare. Using the data, we can not only empower the user but also their care provider to make quantified informed objective decisions about mental health.

The Thymia technology removes the subjectivity from mental health assessments: instead of answering questionnaires, patients play specially designed video games that use cutting-edge Neuropsychology, Linguistics and Machine Learning to detect signs of depression, as well as monitor whether symptoms are improving or worsening over time.

Through its online platform, Thymia is aiming to empower clinicians to make faster and more accurate clinical decisions by making mental illness as objectively measurable as visible physical conditions. Classic psychedelics such as psilocybin, the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms, produce a temporary altered state of consciousness that affects perception, thinking, and mood.