Technology Outflanks Depression By Going Mobile

In order to help prevent teenage depression, researcher Sylvia Kauer of Melbourne University has developed a software program for mobile phones, reports the Northcate Leader, an Australian newspaper.

The software prompts the user four times a day to record their activities, mood, stress and how they were coping. Teens are also able to record information about diet and sleep. The mobile diary enables the teen to communicate more concrete information about their mood and circumstances to their doctor.

The software programs seems to be inspired by a tool used by many depressed patients called a mood chart. An example of a chart for bipolar patients can be found at the healthyplace.com website. This particular form allows the person to keep a day-to-day record of things like mood, sleep, diet and meds.

The benefit of the mood chart and the mobile phone software program is that the patient is able to give their doctor higher quality information. Without a mood chart, the patient has to rely on memory, perhaps colored by the mood of the moment, to tell the doctor what’s going on. The nature of depression is that it can often cause memory problems and distorted thinking; the last thing you want when talking to your doctor.

Dr. Nicole Highet CEO of BeyondBlue, a national depression initiative, says. “This is a clever way of reaching out to young people using technology which is an important part of their lives.”

IMO this mobile phone program would be helpful not only to teens but anyone with depression.

As an aside, Australia keeps popping up when I survey the internet landscape for who is trying to come up with creative ways to address the problems of mental illness depression. See Heart and Antibiotic Meds Treat Anxiety. I will be on the lookout for anything that might explain this cultural phenomena.