Antipsychotic medications are used to treat a significant number of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which have a significant impact on overall disability in Europe. Although these drugs have documented efficacy, they are also associated with side-effects such as drowsiness, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, or extrapyramidal symptoms [1Foley D.L., Morley K.I. Systematic review of early cardiometabolic outcomes of the first treated episode of psychosis Arch Gen Psychiatry 2011 ;  68 (6) : 609-616 [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti]. These contribute to increasing overall morbidity and mortality [2Bresee L.C., Majumdar S.R., Patten S.B., Johnson J.A. Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and disease in people with schizophrenia: a population-based study Psychiatr Serv 2010 ;  61 (9) : 892-898

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti], reduced quality of life, and can push patients to stop their medications. This often leads to relapse, and the need for a new hospital admission, which is detrimental to the patient, and create extra costs for the society. However, the monitoring of side-effects is rarely carried out in a standardized way in daily clinical practice. Smartphones are an acceptable and easy to use tool available to patients with schizophrenia [3Ben-Zeev D., Brenner C.J., Begale M., Duffecy J., Mohr D.C., Mueser K.T. Feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a smartphone intervention for schizophrenia Schizophr Bull 2014 ; [Epub ahead of print].

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti]. The aim of the mPIVAS (mHealth psychoeducational intervention versus antipsychotic-induced side effects) project is to develop an effective and innovative smartphone application that can be used by psychiatrists and patients in order to monitor medications’ side-effects. The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) is involved in this project with the objective to develop this application in 6 languages. Part of the project includes training European early careers psychiatrists to the use Psylog and helping them to spread information about this new project in their own country, by organising local and national cascade courses. We expect an improvement in psychiatric care in all involved institutions through the education of employees, a better implication of patients in their disease, and an improved monitoring of antipsychotic side-effects.