Digital mental health in depression – deep phenotyping and monitoring
Depression is the leading cause of disability and a major mental health related disease burden globally. It affects an approximately 300 million population. Despite the high prevalence and detrimental effects associated with depression, less than 30% of people with common mental disorders had sought help from mental health services for the past year. There are many possible reasons including patients’ lack of awareness/knowledge and potential stigmatisation, but the lack of accessibility of services may also contribute. In addition, it commonly takes physicians 6 to 8 weeks to determine if the patient will recover with current medications for depression but increasing studies suggest that early detection of subtle symptomatic and physiological changes may help to predict a future treatment response at the early phase of treatment. Therefore, there is an imperative need to find a novel strategy (e.g. digital phenotyping) for the early recognition, diagnosis and deep monitoring to enhance a better management of depression.
We hope to invite you to Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin Hospital or the Chinese University of Hong Kongfor this study.
Patients with depression and controls will undergo multimodal measurement (facial expression, voice, rest-activity rhythm and self-evaluated mood level) for 1-2 weeks. Each participant will receive HK$200 – 1200cash coupon as travel allowance.
