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Review
. 2020 Jan 10;8(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s40345-019-0164-x.

Smartphones in mental health: a critical review of background issues, current status and future concerns

Michael Bauer  1 , Tasha Glenn  2 , John Geddes  3 , Michael Gitlin  4 , Paul Grof  5   6 , Lars V Kessing  7 , Scott Monteith  8 , Maria Faurholt-Jepsen  7 , Emanuel Severus  9 , Peter C Whybrow  4
Affiliations
Review

Smartphones in mental health: a critical review of background issues, current status and future concerns

Michael Bauer et al. Int J Bipolar Disord. .

Abstract

There has been increasing interest in the use of smartphone applications (apps) and other consumer technology in mental health care for a number of years. However, the vision of data from apps seamlessly returned to, and integrated in, the electronic medical record (EMR) to assist both psychiatrists and patients has not been widely achieved, due in part to complex issues involved in the use of smartphone and other consumer technology in psychiatry. These issues include consumer technology usage, clinical utility, commercialization, and evolving consumer technology. Technological, legal and commercial issues, as well as medical issues, will determine the role of consumer technology in psychiatry. Recommendations for a more productive direction for the use of consumer technology in psychiatry are provided.

Keywords: Cellphone; Mental illness; Psychiatry; Smartphone; Technology; Wearables.

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Conflict of interest statement

JG reports grants from UK Medical Research Council, grants from Wellcome, grants from National Institute for Health Research, outside the submitted work; and led the conception of True Colours, a digital phenotyping and outcome assessment tool and has overseen its implementation in routine clinical practice and research studies. He is also a National Institute for Health Research Senior Investigator and Director of the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre. LVK has been a consultant for Lundbeck within the last 3 years. The other authors report no competing interests.

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