AGetting up, reading e-mails, going to work, writing a few messages to friends and family in between: If you read the data on a mobile phone, you get an exact picture of the user’s daily routine. How many kilometers are traveled per day, how many minutes on average are on the phone, how many messages are written, how many different contacts are maintained? Data like this should flow together in a study coordinated at the University Hospital in Frankfurt.
According to Andreas Reif, Director of the Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, the aim is to better understand and treat the mechanisms and causes of mood swings in people with certain mental illnesses. The project called “Dynamics of Affect Modulation in Neurodevelopmental Disorders”, Dynamond for short, in which researchers from France, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Spain and Switzerland are working together, is being funded by the EU Commission with 1.3 million euros.
The basic assumption as to how mood swings, which are perceived as problematic by the patients themselves, begin, is simple: If a user deviates significantly from their usual habits, for example stops communicating with friends, this could be an indication of a change in mood.
Borderline or ADHD sign
Parallel to the data transmission via smartphone, to which the test persons must give their consent, the study participants are asked to answer questions about their current mental state in an app. The research period is deliberately long at one year, in order to collect as much data as possible, as Reif says. But also to increase the chance of being able to understand the change between high and low phases in the everyday life of a subject.
Mood swings are a feature of many mental illnesses, but are particularly characteristic of bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and ADHD in adulthood. The mood swings can vary greatly in their severity depending on the clinical picture. According to Reif, those affected by bipolar disorder often experience longer episodes of mania or depression. The effects are often severe, and the deviations from the basic mood defined as “normal” for the patient are enormous. However, these patients are often balanced between the ups and downs and can regulate themselves and their moods well.
However, patients with ADHD or borderline disorders do not always succeed in this. It is true that their deviations from the basic mood in terms of duration and intensity are not as pronounced as in people who suffer from bipolar disorders. However, they may have trouble regulating their immediate emotions. At the same time, however, there are also people who suffer from different forms of mood swings at the same time – which sometimes makes therapy and diagnostics more difficult.
The results of the long-term study should help to identify the mechanisms behind the mood swings. What does it trigger? And how do they announce themselves? “Many mood swings are unpredictable and uncontrollable for patients. It’s incredibly exhausting for her.”
After evaluating the data, patients should be able to better predict what could throw them off balance. Which external influences trigger stress, for example? Are there warning signals that can be derived from one’s own behavior? “The patient should become an expert on his illness himself,” says Reif.
“We feel responsible for each individual”
On the way there, the psychologists want to help. If the evaluation of the data indicates an imminent crisis, contact is sought with the study participants. In addition, the test persons are always available to contact. “We feel responsible for every individual who is docked here at the clinic in studies.” The international research group hopes that the results will lead to new treatment approaches. The original diagnosis should no longer be the decisive indicator for drug therapy suggestions, but the “mood type” to which a patient corresponds.
“We want to move away from the classic diagnostic system towards transdiagnostic treatment,” says Reif. This means treatment could focus more on symptoms and less on diagnosis. “We want to bring the right treatment to the patient and help more quickly and precisely,” says Reif.
According to the clinic director, there is no empirical data to verify the theory. “So far we have relied on clinical observations. The living environment of the patients was never measured,” he says. 120 patients for each disorder who have not exceeded the age of 40 are being sought for the study across Europe. In addition, a comparison group that does not have a comparable diagnosis should be interviewed.
By focusing on young adults, Dynamond wants to help ensure that the diseases are recognized and treated at an early stage in the future. The data obtained should also advance future research projects. They are collected anonymously in a large database.
This should also be made available to researchers from other projects, so that connections between the diseases can be examined more intensively and new treatment strategies can be derived. According to Reif, the project should have started much earlier. But since the General Data Protection Regulation is interpreted with different degrees of strictness in the countries involved, it was an enormous feat to harmonize the requirements.
Those affected and others interested in participating can contact [email protected] or 0 69/6 30 18 54 28.