Depression

The NeuraMetrix monitoring tool allows psychiatrists to see when a patient starts going in and out of a depressive mood
older man sitting on couch in a depressive stateolder man sitting on couch in a depressive state
Nearly everyone has felt depressed, sad, or blue at one time or another. A depressed mood is a normal reaction to loss, life's struggles, or an injured self-esteem. Sometimes, however, depression becomes intense, lasts for long periods, and prevents a person from leading a normal life. If left untreated, depression can get worse, sometimes lasting for years. It can even result in suicide. Depression comes in three variants:
  • Major depressive disorder (or major depression): A person with this type of depression feels a profound and constant sense of hopelessness and despair. The symptoms of major depression interfere with the person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy themselves, even activities that had previously been pleasurable. This disabling type of depression may occur only once in a lifetime, or more commonly, occurs several times in a lifetime.
  • Minor depression: A person with this type of depression has symptoms for longer than two weeks at a time, but does not meet the criteria for major depression.
  • Dysthymic disorder (or dysthymia or chronic depression): In dysthymia, the main symptom is a low mood on most days for a long period of time. Other depression symptoms may be present but are not as severe as in major depression.

With NeuraMetrix, the psychiatrist can:
  • See on the patient’s chart when a patient starts going in and out of a depressive mood
  • Monitor the effect of medication changes for an individual patient with Depression by accessing the patient’s chart a few weeks later and see if the changes had desired effect, no effect, or, at worst, adverse effects – all enabling the psychiatrist to take corrective action, if necessary.
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NeuraMetrix technology has potential to provide first-in-class early detection of affective disorders potentially fast-tracking diagnosis and reducing burden of illness


​​​​​​​- Dr. Martin Schalling, MD, Professor of Medical Genetics Karolinska Institutet,  Chair Swedish Mental Health Fund