Digital Phenotyping for the Busy Psychiatrist: Clinical Implications and Relevance

Over the next 5 years, the evolving landscape of digital devices available to clinicians and their patients will transform the ways that psychiatrists will be able to treat a wide range of neuropsychiatric conditions. In this article, we forecast how digital phenotyping, a new method of quantifying the lived experience of patients using personal smartphones or wearable technology, may become increasingly necessary for clinicians seeking to engage meaningfully with their patients, especially over extended periods of quiescence in care, when illness vigilance may wane on the part of the patient or clinician, and in care settings with limited access to available psychiatrists. We also explore the potential pitfalls of increased reliance on remote monitoring strategies in the patient-doctor relationship, the data overload problem, and how astute clinicians will manage. Finally, we offer some strategies and emerging best practices for how digital phenotyping might be safely integrated into clinical practice in the future.