Digital phenotyping

The extensive use of smart technology (smart phones and wearables) and vast amount of information they contain has positioned remote devices and technology as providing a massive database for behavioral, personal, and social day-to-day activities. Harnessing smart devices into the clinical field has introduced new, real-time data sources that hold promise in characterizing clinical functioning and intervening remotely on a scale and timeframe that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. This promise is beginning to come to fruition as both digital technology and data modeling rapidly advance. Remote characterization of clinical populations (known as digital phenotyping) and subsequent digital methods of intervention are highly relevant in psychiatry where behavioral patterns and change in these patterns may be useful in assessment and prognosis. Clinical outcomes may be better understood and predicted using a digital personalized model which is capable of noticing when deviations from a patient’s usual behavior occur. While digital phenotyping holds much promise, significant work is needed to understand clinical risk based on digital signals and to develop coordinated systems to deploy useful interventions.