Wearable devices in psychiatry: A novel way of mental health monitoring

Because of increase in the prevalence of mental health problems in recent years, it’s a need of the hour to explore the technological options for mental health monitoring especially after COVID 19 pandemic. Symptom profile of the psychiatric patients including lack of insight, reduced motivation, anhedonia, low self esteem may contribute for delay in seeking timely help along with other factors like inaccessible mental health care services, cost of the treatment (travel and medicine) and stigma. Wearable devices can help in remote patient monitoring, early identification and treatment, planning specific interventions, checking treatment adherence, and detecting early signs of relapse. Most research till now is done on anxiety, depression and stress. Few studies are also being done on panic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders and bipolar disorders. Wearable devices for mental health monitoring utilize the physiological parameters like heart rate (variability), blood pressure, respiratory rate, cortisol level, skin conductivity, sleep quality, etc. Changes in these parameters are associated with symptoms of many psychiatric disorders or psychological issues. Type of wearables for mental health available in market include smart watch, actigraph, smart belt or ring, virtual reality headset, fitness tracker, etc. The real time data provided by these devices can help to plan new interventions, distant mental health monitoring, formulate new guidelines, research and behavioural monitoring. By integrating these wearables with various applications on mobile or laptop, quality of mental health assessment as well as quality of patients’ life can be improved. Thus, wearble devices have a great potential for positive revolutionary change in the field of mental health if privacy and data safety precautions are properly practiced.