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Digital Markers of Mental Health Problems: Phenotyping Across Biological, Psychological, and Environmental Dimensions

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Biomarkers in Neuropsychiatry

Abstract

Digital markers of mental health problems have gained attention in research as a result of the growing accessibility and data-generating capabilities of portable digital devices. Through sensors (e.g., geolocating system) and human-device interactions (e.g., keystrokes), smartphones and wearable devices can be used to generate digital indices that aim to capture a person’s mental health states and mental health determinants across biological, psychological, and environmental dimensions. Important advantages of digital (bio)markers include the potential to measure mental health on a day-to-day basis and in the person’s usual environment (rather than in the clinician’s office) and with minimal intervention required from the user. Digital markers can be combined with survey data and other variables as part of tailored predictive models with the aim of helping patients and clinicians better detect, monitor, and manage mental health conditions. In this chapter, we define digital markers in psychiatry and examine their types and applications using examples drawn from the scientific literature. We also consider some of the limitations of existing research, ethical problems, and other barriers to the implementation of digital phenotyping in clinical practice.

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Author notes

  1. Katie C. Bodenstein and Vincent Paquin contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital/Lady Davis Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Katie Caroline Bodenstein, Vincent Paquin, Myriam Lesage, Karin Cinalioglu, Soham Rej & Harmehr Sekhon

  2. University of Toronto Medical School, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kerman Sekhon

  3. McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA

    Ipsit Vahia & Harmehr Sekhon

  4. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ipsit Vahia & Harmehr Sekhon

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  1. Katie Caroline Bodenstein
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  2. Vincent Paquin
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Correspondence to Katie Caroline Bodenstein .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuropsychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Antonio L. Teixeira

  2. Department of Neurology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Natalia P. Rocha

  3. IMPACT (Institute for Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation), Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Michael Berk

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Bodenstein, K.C. et al. (2023). Digital Markers of Mental Health Problems: Phenotyping Across Biological, Psychological, and Environmental Dimensions. In: Teixeira, A.L., Rocha, N.P., Berk, M. (eds) Biomarkers in Neuropsychiatry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43356-6_7

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