UJI participates in project OPTIMI for early detection of depression

Treatments for mental illnesses are based on medicines and on therapies. Nevertheless it is not being done much to develop effective systems to prevent the appearance of such illnesses. In January starts the European initiative OPTIMI to contribute to the early detection of depression. The research group Labpsitec of the Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology at the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón, takes part in the project with the design of evaluation strategies for people in situation of risk. The objective is to design a system able of preventing depression, one of the more common mental illnesses in the European Union, where the care of mental health means more than a third of the cost of the total care of health. According to what the director of the group, Cristina Botella says, "the project OPTIMI is addressed to people who are in risk of coming into a depression because they suffer a lot of pressure or continue stress as, for example, eldercare providers, people with disabilities, professionals of the emergency services or people who are shortly going to finish their unemployment benefit".

"If we manage to predict when a person is on the brink of depression, we will be able to react on time and avoid the degeneration thanks to a personal preventive treatment", remarks the researcher. "In this way, we will try to relieve the personal and family suffering the illness can cause, while contributing to reduce congestion of the health system and the economical loss due to a low productivity".

The team will daily register stress levels and their effects in the behaviour and state of mind of the person. The registration will be possible by means of the study of the variations occurred at a cognitive, motor and verbal level. Specifically, the team will take into account electrocardiograms, cortisol levels, voice analysis, physical activity and an electronic diary that the patient will write. In this way, they expect to draw their evolution and indentify the mechanisms used to put up with stress.

There will be two stages of tests taken with volunteers coming from high risk situations. A first stage will take place in China, Switzerland and Spain, with a length of six months. The second one will be developed in the United Kingdom and Spain, where the designed tools and the system of preventive treatment will be weighed up.

The consortium is made up of research institutions specialized in different areas of psychology and of technological partners which will develop sensors and devices to track psychological states. It is expected that after three years of work, the researches become a prototype of computer tools which detect situations of risk.

OPTIMI (Online Predictive Tools for Intervention in Mental Illness) is coordinated by the Spanish company Everis. In the project also collaborate, a part from the institution from Castellón, the Laboratory LabHuman of the Universidad Politécnica of Valencia with Mariano Alcañiz as head of the laboratory and other eight institutions from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and China.

In the group of the UJI take part researchers specializing in psychopathology, ergonomic issues and working and evaluation tools; all of them with a great experience after taking part in projects such as ETIOBE that developed a computer tool to fight children's obesity.