Journals Proceedings

Abstract

A large number of personal healthcare monitoring systems are being researched, designed and tested to improve the health of people suffering from various illness. Bipolar disorder is a severe form of mental illness that is found to effect around 1% of the EU population. It is characterized by alternated episodes of mania and depression, and is typically treated with a combination of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. Early detection of these two alternative episodes would be of great help to doctors in providing medical aid to patients before they become maniac or depressed. In this paper we present the MONARCA a smart phone based monitoring system, that facilitates the recognition of early warning signs and predict maniac or depressive episodes. The system is centered around the mobile phone and minimally invasive wearable sensors that is being developed in the framework of the MONARCA European project.