Wearables are being used in a variety of aspects of health and wellness. Between athletic monitoring devices that collect and analyze sweat and minerals lost due to physical activity to wearables that can help treat anxiety by non-invasive electromagnetic stimulation of the brain, there’s a lot happening.

This week, Frank Vinluan of MedCity News wrote an article, “A Wearable Tech Gives Pharmas & Therapists Better Feel for Changes in Mental Health,” that builds off another interesting use case for wearable technologies. 

In the article, Vinluan shares how pharmaceutical companies are leveraging Feel Therapeutics’ technologies to monitor people’s mental health states while on behavioral medication as part of clinical trials. The use of wearables is to help bridge the gap between self-reported feelings or behaviors and allows for continuous access to data that can shape a whole picture.

Vinluan quotes Feel Therapeutics CEO and Co-founder, George Eleftheriou, as saying, “Self-reporting is incomplete and lacks objectivity.” What the company is trying to do is use its wristband wearable to monitor skin temperature, sweat, and heart rate to give insight into someone’s emotional state. Patient movement is also tracked, and the wearable can count patient interactions with other devices. All of these things can signal behavioral changes. 

Currently wrapped up in clinical trials, Feel Therapeutics is looking to obtain clearance from U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Until then, Feel Therapeutics is working with researchers in a variety of capacities, including in clinical testing of experimental neuropsychiatric drugs to better understand patient response and potentially overcome placebo effect responses. 

Eleftheriou was quoted saying, “If we’re able to deliver insight to the provider, the psychotherapist, before or during the session in a more objective way, this would have tremendous value for them.”

It seems investors agree that there’s value. So far, Feel Therapeutics has raised more than $13 million in funding, and is looking to develop patient-support programs with employers within the U.S. and Europe, as well as with U.S.-based health plans.