“Right now the existing health care system is flawed in many ways, GPs don’t have time, the current tools at their disposal are incredibly biased subjective questionnaires, and there’s no follow-up between appointments,” she said. Emilia Molimpakis, CEO and co-founder of the software. “Thymia is the first system that offers objectivity and uses different types of data to create a truly accurate and effective model of depression.”
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The program asks patients to play simple video games, with neuropsychological support, ultimately designed to measure depressive cues. Using sophisticated artificial intelligence, the software analyzes the patient’s voice, eye gaze and micro-expressions along with behavioral measures including reaction times, memory and error rates.
Through videogame interaction, the collected data refer to models indicative of depression, allowing a rapid diagnosis. Since the program is designed to monitor long-term patients, these can play between appointments, helping to identify if treatments are working over time.
“What we hope to achieve is to help doctors reach the right diagnosis much faster. Currently this takes years of work that we want to cut down into a matter of weeks, helping them find the right treatment for each individual patient,” he said. the doctor Emilia MolimpakisCEO and co-founder of the project.
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Thymia has been tested by around 2,000 patients at University College and King’s College London, with clinical trials starting in the second half of this year, but there is concern over whether the technology will have the desired effect. “This is a good opportunity to admit that we are not very good at collecting, understanding or supporting people who are feeling depressed,” said the doctor. Lucy Johnstone, clinical psychologist. “A quick checklist won’t say much, but sitting in front of a video game of some kind that monitors your gaze isn’t either.“, commented.
“Actually we need a human being to sit in front of us and ask us more about those traumatic events in our life, this is what will help us understand people better“concluded Johnstone.
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