Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are nowadays using a new device to study the behavior of patients who are suffering with mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
This behavioral-pattern monitoring device includes computerized vest that is worn by
the patient and a video camera, embedded in the ceiling and by monitoring the patient by using this latest innovation facilitates researchers to get more accurate diagnose of disorders and to test the effectiveness of treatment.
According to William Perry, a professor of psychiatry at UCSD and the lead investigator in the study, whose beginning results tell very distinctive blueprints of activity among patients within these two patient groups, says:
When patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are very symptomatic and psychotic, they often look very similar, and this makes it hard to discern one population from the other,
This behavioral-pattern monitoring study is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and by analyzing patient’s unique signature patterns researchers hope to learn more about the brain functioning of psychotic individuals in effective manner that current observation method cannot offer.
This vest called LifeShirt, developed by Vivometrics, a company based in Ventura, CA. To monitor patients behavioral-patterns, this obliging vest comes embedded with sensors that measure the physiological responses of patients. It also comes equipped with an accelerometer that measures the G forces applied to it. This accelerometer is an important equipment for UCSD researchers because it helps them to measure how patients intermingle with their environment to record are they walking, moving quickly, standing still, or fidgeting? And it also helps to generate a signature of their activity.
But Perry’s ultimate goal aims something else, according to its statement:
We want someone to come into a room and spend 15 minutes, and based on the analysis, we can say the probability of this person having an attentional disorder or schizophrenia is quite high.
The device will surely help physicians to get more accurate ways of diagnosing psychiatric disorders and any other device that can improve this process will always be welcomed and appreciated.
Via: Medgadget
