One tool to accommodate these types of data acquisition and documentation of observations are smartphone apps, online treatment programs or wearables. Since there are shortfalls in the care of patients with depression – sufferers often have to wait several months for an appointment with a psychologist –, these applications are frequently aimed at getting patients to self-manage their depression.
"With the app as their digital companion, patients are meant to structure their everyday life to identify depressive episodes at an early stage and get help or alerts when their situation worsens," explains data protection expert Professor Andre Döring.
One of these apps is Arya. Sufferers are especially aware of their fears and worries in everyday life. This is the starting point for the app since smartphones have become our constant companions and can help us manage daily life. Arya enables patients to monitor their emotions and behavior patterns and encourages activities to boost mental well-being. It stores moments of happiness so that they can be accessed during depressive episodes. The treatment is integrated into everyday life.
The STEADY project of the German Foundation for Depression Relief (Stiftung Deutsche Depressionshilfe), primarily targets bottlenecks in healthcare. "The STEADY project aims to encourage affected patients to self-manage their disease. The goal is to set up a system that enables people with depression to manage and better utilize the existing data about their bodily functions, behavior, and environment," Hegerl sums up the platform’s objectives. This data is collected with the help of sensors in smartphones or wearables. "Our basic concept is to systematically self-collect data about sleep patterns, exercise and movement patterns, speech tempo and volume, heart rate, skin conductance and cell phone use and then edit the data to make it available to STEADY users. The idea is for individuals to learn how to use this data and learn how to better cope with their depression."