Your Smartphone Can Diagnose Depression

According to a new study, people spending a lot of time on their smartphone may be suffering from some form of depression.

Those who are depressed, were found to be staring at the cell phones for at least an hour ever day while non-depressed people used their devices for an average of 17 minutes daily.

The Illinois' NorthWestern University based study further states it is possible to look for signs of depression while tracking sensor data from an individual's smartphone.

By doing so, the researchers are able to keep track of the number of minutes these users use their mobile devices and also allows the scientists to keep track of their daily whereabouts.

"The significance of this is we can detect if a person has depressive symptoms and the severity of those symptoms without asking them any questions," David Mohr, senior author of the study, said in a statement. "We now have an objective measure of behavior related to depression. And we're detecting it passively. Phones can provide data unobtrusively and with no effort on the part of the user."

The study included 28 participants with an average age of 28 years. They were also asked to install the Purple Robot app which helped the researchers to collect information on their subjects for a period of 2 weeks.

"The main reason for the development of the app is to see if we can objectively and passively identify if people are depressed," Sohrob Saeb, one of the developers of Purple Robot, told CNN.

The app is said to be successful at detecting depression symptoms in people with 87 percent accuracy.

GPS tracking allowed the researchers to study the participant's mental state. Depressed people were generally shown to be withdrawn and more likely to spend their time at home.

"The data showing depressed people tended not to go many places reflects the loss of motivation seen in depression," said Mohr, who is a clinical psychologist and professor of preventive medicine at Feinberg. "When people are depressed, they tend to withdraw and don't have the motivation or energy to go out and do things."

"People are likely, when on their phones, to avoid thinking about things that are troubling, painful feelings or difficult relationships," Mohr said. "It's an avoidance behavior we see in depression."