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A28 SCIENCE
Monday 7 January 2019

Detecting depression: Phone apps could monitor teen angst

By LINDSEY TANNER smartphone data, includ-
AP Medical Writer ing how active or seden-
Rising suicide rates and de- tary kids are, to identify
pression in U.S. teens and any changes that might be
young adults have prompt- linked with future depres-
ed researchers to ask a sion. Study participant Lau-
provocative question: rel Foster, 15, acknowledg-
Could the same devices es feeling stress over aca-
that some people blame demics and “the usual”
for contributing to tech- teen friendship pressures
age angst also be used to and says depression is ram-
detect it? pant at her San Francisco
The idea has sparked a high school. She said using
race to develop apps that the smartphone app felt a
warn of impending mental bit like being spied on, but
health crises. Call it smart- with so many online sites al-
phone psychiatry or child ready tracking users’ habits
psychology 2.0. “one more isn’t really a big
Studies have linked heavy difference.”
smartphone use with wors- “I feel like it’s good to actu-
ening teen mental health. ally find out what is stressing
But as teens scroll through you,” Laurel said, endors-
Instagram and Snapchat, ing the idea of using smart-
tap out texts or watch phones to try to answer
YouTube videos, they also that question.
leave digital footprints that — At UCLA, as part of
might offer clues to their In this Nov. 1, 2018 photo, Laurel Foster looks at Instagram in San Francisco. a broader effort to bat-
psychological well-being. Associated Press tle campus depression
Changes in typing speed, out — including privacy is- nal and what’s the noise links to help lines, or digital launched in 2017, re-
voice tone, word choice sues and making sure kids — what is in this enormous alerts to parents, doctors or searchers are offering on-
and how often kids stay grant permission to be amount of data that peo- first responders. line counseling and an ex-
home could signal trouble, monitored so closely. De- ple accumulate on their Facebook is already doing perimental phone app to
according to preliminary velopers say proven, com- phones that is indicative of just that with what it calls students who show signs
studies. mercially available mood- a mental health crisis.” “proactive detection.” Af- of at least mild depression
There might be as many detecting apps are likely Depression affects about 3 ter a livestreamed suicide, on a screening test. About
as 1,000 smartphone “bio- years — but not decades million U.S. teens, and rates Facebook trained its AI sys- 250 freshmen agreed to
markers” for depression, — away. have climbed in the past tems to flag certain words use the app in the first year.
said Dr. Thomas Insel, for- “People often feel that decade. Thirteen percent or phrases in online posts Personal sensing data col-
mer head of the National these things are creepy,” of 12- to 17-year-olds had that could indicate im- lected from the app is be-
Institute of Mental Health because of the tech indus- depression in 2017, up from minent self-harm. Friends’ ing analyzed to see how it
and now a leader in the try’s surreptitious tracking 8 percent in 2010, U.S. gov- comments expressing correlates with any worsen-
smartphone psychiatry of online habits for com- ernment data show. One concern about the user’s ing or improvement in de-
movement. mercial purposes, said Uni- in 10 college-aged Ameri- well-being are part of the pression symptoms seen in
Researchers are testing versity of Oregon psycholo- cans is affected. equation. “In the last year, internet therapy.
experimental apps that gist Nick Allen. Suicide has risen to the we’ve helped first respond- Sophomore Alyssa Lizar-
use artificial intelligence to Using smartphones as men- second leading cause of ers quickly reach around raga, who had the app
try to predict depression tal illness detectors would death for ages 10 to 34. 3,500 people globally who on her phone for about six
episodes or potential self- require informed consent Rates among teen girls needed help,” Facebook months, said it was “a little
harm. “We are tracking from users to install an app, doubled from 2007 to 2015, CEO Mark Zuckerberg an- like the Big Brother thing.
the equivalent of a heart- “and they could withdraw climbing to 5 per 100,000. nounced in November. Half of me felt that way. The
beat for the human brain,” permission at any time,” And among boys, rates Facebook has not dis- other half felt like I hope it
said Dr. Alex Leow, an app said Allen, one of the cre- jumped 30 percent, to 14 in closed outcomes of those will be useful.”
developer and associate ators of an app that is be- 100,000. cases. Lizarraga, 19, has had de-
professor of psychiatry and ing tested on young peo- A recent study suggested a The ongoing research in- pression since high school
bioengineering at the Uni- ple who have attempted parallel rise in smartphone cludes: in Whittier, California. She
versity of Illinois’ Chicago suicide. use likely contributed. — A Stanford University has worried that she’s “ad-
campus. At least, that’s the “The biggest hurdle at the People with mental illness study involving about dicted” to her phone and
goal. There are technical moment,” Allen said, “is to typically get treatment 200 teens, including kids spends a lot of time on so-
and ethical kinks to work learn about what’s the sig- “when they’re in crisis and at risk for depression be- cial media sites. “People
very late in the course of an cause of bullying, family need to see the best side
illness. We want to have a circumstances or other life of me” there, she said, and
method to identify the ear- stresses. As part of the re- comparing herself with oth-
liest signs,” in an objective search, teens who have ers online sometimes gets
way, Insel said. been tracked since grade her down. But using smart-
If smartphones prove to be school get an experimen- phones in a positive way for
accurate mood predic- tal phone app that surveys mental health might help
tors, developers say the them three times daily for nudge people to seek ear-
ultimate goal would be to two weeks with questions ly treatment, if they could
use them to offer real-time about their mood. see how their phone use
help, perhaps with auto- Researchers are combining showed signs of depres-
mated text messages and those answers with passive sion, she said.q