Mood Zoom could be a promising tool for daily mood variability monitoring, potentially differentiating bipolar from borderline patients

ABSTRACT FROM: Tsanas A, Saunders KE, Bilderbeck AC, et al. Daily longitudinal self-monitoring of mood variability in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. J Affect Disord 2016;205:225–233. What is already known on this topic Psychiatric evaluations of patients' diagnoses and symptoms largely rely on their autobiographical memory, ability to reflect and verbalise their inner experience and behaviour, and the interviewers' ability to conceptualise these communications. Reliable biomarkers for purposes of diagnosis and follow-up of illness course and treatment effectiveness are constantly sought. Both clinical experience and longitudinal research on mood variability among patients with mood disorders indicate a need for improved methods for patient monitoring. Pioneering online mood charting tools1 have existed for over a decade. Accumulating studies have already demonstrated that smartphone data can serve as an electronic biomarker of illness activity in bipolar disorder (BD).2–4 However, studies comparing...
Source: Evidence-Based Mental Health - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Outcomes Source Type: research