mDB: Monitoring Dysfunctional Behaviors for Patients with Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder is a common mental illness affecting millions of people worldwide. It is most commonly presented as periods of depressive lows and manic highs, both of which can be extremely uncomfortable and distressing for the individual affected. Existing bipolar patient monitoring relies on subjective self-reports, which are inaccurate and biased. Moreover, many symptoms are not easily recognized or are ignored by the patient, resulting in a loss of information and misleading reports. To achieve reliable daily monitoring of dysfunctional behaviors, we propose a system mDB that uses a mobile phone to monitor a variety of symptomatic activities, in the hopes of improving care and quality of life for these individuals.