Telemedical system for diagnosis and therapy of stress related disorders

Abstract

The consequences of stress on the health of a person as well as the impact on the health system attracted more and more the public's attention during the last years. In contrast to this, only a few instruments for an objective assessment of stress for the use in diagnosis and therapy of stress related disorders exist. In this article, a model for the phenomenon "stress" is introduced to understand the complex correlations between psychological, physiological and behavioral level. According to this model, a telemedical system that allows a comprehensive assessment of stress-related parameters is presented. This system consists of a psycho-physiological measurement device based on a chest-strep with dry electrodes in order to measure physiological parameters like ECG, physical activity, breathing and photoplethysmogramm (PPG) and a wirelessly coupled smartphone used as an e-diary and e-questionnaire to assess subjective and behavioral parameters. © 2012 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.