A smartphone app that can help psychiatrists diagnose mental illness

A smartphone app that can help psychiatrists diagnose mental illness

by | Jul 27, 2020 | Anxiety, Bipolar, Blog, Customer Stories, Depression, Mental Illness, mHealth

“A smartphone app that can help psychiatrists diagnose mental illness” –  Peter Hagelund, a Monsenso user, speaks about his experience using the Monsenso mobile health solution to support his treatment, and how it has helped  him improve the communication with his psychiatrist.

Prior to using the Monsenso smartphone app, Peter and his psychiatrist followed the typical therapeutic setting, they would schedule an appointment every two-three weeks, and they would have a conversation to discuss Peter’s previous weeks.  Peter would usually say that he had been doing fine for each appointment, but sometimes he forgot important details that he wanted to discuss.

“It can be pretty tricky to remember, two weeks later [between appointments] how you actually felt that day. With the app it’s really easy to go back and see if your mood has been pretty stable over the last two months, or if you had had some ups and downs over a period,” says Peter Hagelund.

Now, instead of relying on Peter’s memory during the appointment, his psychiatrist can access his data and see how he has been doing, as it happened. He can view how much he has been sleeping, how much he exercises, how much he drinks, how much anxiety he has, and other relevant aspects to his treatment and his disorder.

“My psychiatrist now says things like You say you’ve been doing fine, but I can actually see that you’ve had a few ups and downs. I think the app helps him get a real view of how I have been doing,” says Peter Hagelund.

In his Danish documentary series “Jeg savner min sygdom” (which translates to “I miss my illness”), Peter Hagelund talks about his experience of getting the wrong diagnosis and how finally after six years he got the right diagnosis and treatment. 

In 2014, he was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

During his whole life, he knew there was something different about him. He always struggled with depression and anxiety, and what eventually turned out to be hypomania. When he was 22, he had his first big episode of depression and began taking antidepressants. However, it took six more years before he was officially diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

He says that one of the trickiest things about having this diagnosis is that he does not experience the typical manic episode where a person feels over-energetic and nearly psychotic. Instead, he feels hypomanic, which means that he is socially well functioning. He is not psychotic. He just feels really well; the problem with this, was that he didn’t feel the need to inform his psychiatrist the fact that he was feeling too well. 

His psychiatrist found out that he had Bipolar Disorder was because he couldn’t come out of his depression. At first, he was diagnosed with depression and ADD. But these diagnoses didn’t seem to fit because he still had strong mood swings and a lot of anxiety. When he was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2, it actually made sense to him. Suddenly, he could see why he had felt the way he had most of his life.

“I really believe that the Monsenso smartphone app could have helped my psychiatrist give me the right diagnosis at an earlier stage because the app helps me to keep track of my mood and to become more aware of how I feel. With the app, I have to pause and take a moment to think about how I’ve actually been doing before entering my answers. Keeping track of all this information has helped my treatment. My psychiatrist and I can plan better on how to avoid my future depressive or hypomanic episodes because we can clearly identify when I am having mood swings”. says Peter Hagelund.  

In August 2018, his documentary about living with Bipolar Disorder aired on national Danish television and the response was overwhelming. Many people contacted him, to thank him for talking about his illness. He made the documentary so other people who have this illness, do not feel ashamed of it.

“My hope is that in the future people are diagnosed at an earlier stage than I was and I truly believe the Monsenso app is one of the things that can help. I really hope that other psychiatrists and their patients will start using the app,” he added.

Click here to read this story in Danish.

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A smartphone app that supports patient empowerment

A smartphone app that supports patient empowerment

by | May 1, 2020 | Bipolar, Blog, Customer Stories

“A smartphone app that supports patient empowerment” – Mads Trier-Blom, a Monsenso user, talks about his experience using the Monsenso app, and how it has helped him to become more aware of his mood and other parameters, such as sleep, levels of stress and anxiety and the influence these parameters have on his illness, Bipolar Disorder.

Mads Trier-Blom, who is using the Monsenso app as part of a clinical trial, says the app helps him to be more connected with his clinician, Bente who intervenes when she can see that Mads’s is not feeling well, to help him avoid having an episode.

To Mads, having bipolar disorder feels like walking on a tightrope, since he constantly needs to keep his balance, and avoid losing control to a depressive or a manic episode. He thinks the app helps him keep his balance since he needs to registers his mood every day, which makes him more aware of the way he is feeling. The app also helps him identify any mood fluctuations he has during the week.

During the clinical trial, Mads felt more connected to his clinician, Bente. He recalls an instance when he had missed completing his self-assessments for a couple of days, and Bente called him to see how he was doing. At the beginning, since he was not expecting the call, he was a bit confused. However, when she identified herself and the purpose of her call, he relaxed and told her that he had been a bit tense lately, but that he was overall feeling well. This made him feel more aware of his mood and his behaviour as well as more alert.

I Truly Believe Monsenso Can Help Others with Bipolar Disorder Type 2

I Truly Believe Monsenso Can Help Others with Bipolar Disorder Type 2

by | Sep 11, 2018 | Uncategorized

Peter Hagelund’s has a documentary series in Danish called “Jeg savner min sygdom” which translates to “I miss my illness” the series is about living with Bipolar Disorder Type 2. Click on this link to watch the documentary.

In 2014, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

During my whole life, I had known that something was different about me. I always struggled with depression and anxiety, and what eventually turned out to be hypomania. When I was 22, I had my first big depression episode and had to start taking antidepressants. However, it would take me six more years before I was officially diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

The tricky thing about having this diagnosis is that you do not experience the typical manic episode where you are over-energetic and nearly psychotic. Instead, you’re hypomanic, which means that you’re socially well functioning. You’re not psychotic. You actually feel really good. So the problem is, that you don’t go to your psychiatrist and say that you feel too well. At least I didn’t.

The reason why my psychiatrist found out I had Bipolar Disorder was because I couldn’t get out of my depression. At first, my psychiatrist diagnosed me with depression and ADD. But these diagnoses didn’t seem to fit because I still had strong mood swings and a lot of anxiety. When I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2, it actually made sense. Suddenly, I could see why I had felt the way I had most of my life.

I really believe that the Monsenso smartphone app could have helped my psychiatrist give me the right diagnosis at an earlier stage because the app helps me to keep track of my mood and to become more aware of how I feel. With the app, I have to pause and take a moment to think about how I’ve actually been doing before entering my answers. Keeping track of all this information has helped my treatment. My psychiatrist and I can plan better on how to avoid my future depressive or hypomanic episodes because we can clearly identify when I am having mood swings.  

In August 2018, my documentary about living with Bipolar Disorder aired on national Danish television and the response was overwhelming. Many people have contacted me, to thank me for talking about my illness. I had made the documentary so other people who have this illness, are not ashamed of it and I think I succeeded.

My hope is that in the future people are diagnosed at an earlier stage than I was and I truly believe the Monsenso app is one of the things that can help. I really hope that other psychiatrists and their patients will start using the app.

Click here to read this story in Danish.

A smartphone app that supports patient empowerment

“Monsenso helps me to maintain balance between manic and depressive episodes.” Mads Trier-Blom’s Customer Story

by | Sep 5, 2018 | Uncategorized

Monsenso user, Mads Trier-Blom, speaks of his experience using the Monsenso app as a part of a clinical trial. The Monsenso app has helped Mads to become more connected with his clinician, Bente so that she could help intervene with Mads’s moods even before it turned into an episode.

The app helped him to become more aware of his mood, and other factors, such as sleep, and their influence on his bipolar affective disorder. To Mads, having bipolar disorder means constantly keep a balance, to prevent losing control to either depressive or manic episodes.

“In my life with bipolar disorder, I see myself as a tightrope walker. This metaphor for living with bipolar disorder is very meaningful. I feel like a tightrope walker because when living with bipolar disorder, you constantly have to prevent losing control to either depressive episodes or manic episodes. You are able to avoid this through earlier registration on how your mood is fluctuating so that the app can help you to keep in control of your life.” says Mads Trier-Blom.

During Mads’s time in his clinical trial, he felt more connected to his clinician, Bente. He recalls an instance where he had missed completing his self-assessments for a couple of days, and Bente had called him to check and see how he was doing. With Bente calling to check in on him, it helped Mads to become more aware of how his mood.

“One day, I was driving in my car and I was a little tense. Suddenly, the phone rang. It was this lady, saying, ‘Hi, my name is Bente and I just wanted to hear about how you are doing. At first, I was like,’Who are you, why are you calling me?’ and then she said, ‘Well, you’re on this trial and I can see that you haven’t made registrations for 3 days. So I thought, ‘Oh yeah, this is true. I am kind of tense at the moment, but yeah I think it’s okay; but still this answering back to the clinician and the clinician is able to call you back which makes you aware and alert.” says Mads Trier-Blom.

“mHealth for better mental health treatment” Kristoffer Södersten’s Customer Story

“mHealth for better mental health treatment” Kristoffer Södersten’s Customer Story

by | Aug 30, 2018 | Blog, Customer Stories, mHealth

To turn on English subtitles, click on the ‘CC’ at the bottom of the video. 

Psychiatrist Kristoffer Södersten from PsykiatriResurs in Sweden shares his experience using the Monsenso mHealth solution.

How does the Monsenso mHealth solution encourage and empower better mental health treatment? 

Kristoffer explains how the Monsenso mHealth solution helps him to enhance and inform treatment. Specifically, the solution helps him to gain more relevant information about his patients, such as information that couldn’t have been obtained through the traditional method of verbal sessions. “It’s difficult to retrieve reliable and consistent data from each patient during a verbal consultation with them,” says Kristoffer.

Obtaining the right information is key for psychiatrists and psychologists to provide an accurate diagnosis 

“[The accuracy from a diagnosis obtained] from face-to-face consultation depends so much on factors like personal relations, how comfortable the patient is in the conversation, cultural background, etc. Therefore, [due to these factors] it can be very arbitrary about which diagnosis a patient receives. This diagnosis can depend on which clinician he meets, and these other factors.” says Kristoffer. The information gathered from the Monsenso Clinic can help to provide a consistent and clearer view of the patient’s mental health, to better inform a diagnosis.

Kristoffer finds the Monsenso mHealth solution to be particularly helpful in capturing relevant objective data. The solution provides a comprehensive and easily accessible overview of relevant patient data, such as day score, mood score, sleep and medication adherence. Moreover, overview of collected sensor data, such as physical activity, social activity, phone usage and voice features can also be provided. This objective data can help to supplement the subjective data provided during verbal therapy.

“The technology of Monsenso can help us to gather more objective data that – together with the subjective experience – provide a more holistic picture of the patient’s problems, to help provide a more accurate diagnosis and follow-up treatment in a totally different way,” says Kristoffer.

Monsenso mHealth solution is providing a visualization of a historical data, which in some cases can identify why the symptoms appear and help to prevent them.

“You can also use this tool to predict future psychological outcomes, which can help us intervene early and prevent relapse.”