Smartphone for Mental Health Patients: A Double-edged Weapon?

Abstract

Introduction

The current development of new technologies dedicated to healthcare, such as smartphones, provides an interesting opportunity to improve both assessment and follow-up of different illnesses, particularly mental diseases.

Aim

To investigate, the contributions and risks of smartphone use among mental health patients.

Methods

We conducted a literature research of PubMed and Sciencedirect using the key words “smartphone”; “bipolar disorder”; “schizophrenia”; “anxiety disorders”; “addiction”; “dementia”.

Results

Literature data provide several examples of the use of the smartphone's features for patient monitoring. One such example involved patients with Alzheimer disease. An attempt to deal with the risk of wandering was proposed with the use of the Android app iWander, which works by using the smartphone's GPS to track the patient at all times. As for bipolar disorder, several applications have been proposed both for diagnostic ic instruments…) and interventional purposes (applications that offer subjects psycho-education in the form of emotional self-awareness…). Several other applications can be used in the management of schizophrenia, social anxiety disorder and addictions. Along with its obvious benefits, however, the smartphone use has a dark side. Problematic smartphone use is one form of behavioral addiction recently identified. In addition, the access to Internet through the smartphone opens the door to Internet addiction and its sub-types (cybersexual addiction, cyber-relationship addiction…).

Conclusion

The use of smartphone for medical purposes must be cautious among mental health patients, because of a field of vulnerability that promotes the appearance of other mental diseases, especially addictions, which may darken their prognosis.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.