Psychologist in a Pocket: Towards Depression Screening on Mobile Phones

Depression is the most prevalent clinical disorder and one of the main causes of disability. This makes early detection of depressive symptoms critical in its prevention and management. This paper presents and discusses the development of Psychologist in a Pocket (PiaP), a mental mHealth application for Android which screens and monitors for these symptoms, and-given the explicit permission of the user-alerts a trusted contact such as the mental health professional or a close friend, if it detects symptoms. All text inputted electronically-such as short message services, emails, social network posts-is analyzed based on keywords related to depression based on DSM-5 and ICD criteria as well as Beck's Cognitive Theory of Depression and the Self-Focus Model. Data evaluation and collection happen in the background, on-device, without requiring any user involvement. Currently, the application is in an early prototype phase entering initial clinical validation.