Currently available means to achieve personalized psychiatry

Abstract

Psychiatry awaits new biomarkers to guide diagnosis and treatment, but identifying, testing, and applying valid technologies will be an extended process, likely requiring years of development. Meanwhile, numerous features of illness and proven techniques for gathering key information on individual patients are underutilized. Such information includes: Details of current presentation and history, including treatments and outcomes; other medical history, including treatments and outcomes; general health and habits; family history of relevant illnesses; and the personal and social context of each patient’s life and illness. Rarely is enough time allotted or resources made available to obtain all this information. However, these data can be obtained by system modifications including: Offloading some work from the treating psychiatrist to allow more time for discussion, data gathering, and relationship building with the patient; using standardized tools and procedures, such as electronic assessment and tracking tools, to gather and share information; improving means to obtain information from other sources, such as other informants, colleagues treating the patient, and the medical record; and providing easily accessible assessment and treatment guidelines containing evidence-based expert-consensus techniques for matching treatment to individual presentation and circumstances. These approaches can be implemented, by means detailed in the text. Briefly, providing more personalized care requires some shifts in funding, some changes in staffing and communication, and some improvements in electronic data gathering, sharing, and searching. In the service of care, it is incumbent on all involved agencies, institutions, and practices to make these changes in the immediate future.