The Promising and Perilous Case for Smartphones in Mental Health Services

Smartphones have radically changed our world. They’ve changed how we work, how we connect with others, how we date, and how we manage our finances, to name just a few things. Recently, they’ve also changed how individuals with mental health conditions receive services. For example, smartphones have changed the ways in which clinicians check in with their patients, and how patients with similar symptoms develop support networks. But like most technological advances, smartphones come with as many problems as they do promises. For example, for patients with schizophrenia, video conferencing has the potential to backfire and trigger symptoms of paranoia.

In this episode, we’ll talk with Dr. Christopher Larrison–a professor at the University of Illinois School of Social Work–about the promising and perilous aspects of using smartphones in community and mental health spaces.