“Siri, how do I feel right now?” Apple’s automated assistant might
not be so perceptive as to know, but your smartphone may soon be able to
assess your mood and determine if you are suffering from symptoms of
depression. Researchers at Northwestern University are creating a kind
of virtual therapist called Mobilyze
to help people that tend to ignore symptoms of their depression realize
that they need to take measures to deal with their moods.
The algorithm-based Mobilyze would rely on a bevy of data--location,
social activity, physical activity, what a user is doing, etc.--to
determine behavior patterns and recognize if they are behaving normally
or seem to be deviating from their normal behavior, particularly in ways
that suggest depression. That data will come from sensors and
technology already present in most smartphones, like Bluetooth, GPS,
gyros, accelerometers, and Wi-Fi.
If the phone determines that a person is acting in a depressed
manner, it can provide automated texts to the users’ friends and
families or to users themselves, prompting them to call someone or
simply to get out of the house and do something. The technology has
already been trialled on eight patients, who all showed improvement in
dealing with their depression at the end of the treatment. More testing
is slated for this summer.
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