Wearables as mental health companions: Hype or hope?

Mint

5 hours ago

Smartwatches and fitness bands have moved beyond just counting steps. From sleep tracking to stress monitoring, wearables now claim to offer insights into your state of mind. But here's the question: are these really meaningful tools for mental health or are we just being sold a shinier version of self-help?
Today's wearables come equipped with sensors that go far beyond step counting or calorie tracking. They monitor physiological signs closely linked to mental well-being. Think heart rate variability (HRV), sleep cycles, breathing patterns, and stress indicators like galvanic skin response. But it doesn't stop there.
Thanks to AI, many of these devices now offer daily mood tracking, generate mental health scores, and even alert users to early signs of burnout, anxiety, or depressive episodes. These aren't just consumer gimmicks. Clinicians and researchers are increasingly using wearables to support patients between visits, providing real-time data for early intervention or behaviour adjustment.
The biggest promise? Accessibility. In a country like India where the therapist-to-population ratio is alarmingly low, wearables offer a way to extend mental health monitoring beyond the clinic, especially in underserved or rural areas.
Of course, there are catches. First up: privacy. These devices collect highly personal data, and unless protected with effective encryption and ethical data policies, there's potential for misuse from insurance discrimination to targeted ads.
Then there's the issue of accuracy. AI models can only work with the data they're trained on. Biases in training sets, whether regional, gendered, or socio-economic, can skew results, leading to incorrect alerts or missed warnings. Not ideal when you're dealing with someone's mental state.
Also, let's be honest: wearables don't offer empathy. They can flag a panic episode, but they can't talk you through it. Mental health support still relies on human connection from counsellors, family, community. So, while your smartwatch might nudge you to meditate, it's not a replacement for a real therapist.
Adoption is another hurdle. These devices still cost a premium, and digital literacy isn't uniform across regions. Add to that cultural hesitancy around mental health, and you get patchy usage at best.
Despite limitations, research backing this space is getting stronger. Large-scale studies, including those published in PubMed and JMIR in 2025, show that wearables can detect early signs of depression, track symptom progression, and even predict risks like self-harm with reasonable accuracy.
New AI models like WearNet are leading the charge, analyzing multiple data points to detect mood disorders with growing precision. Trials in the US, UK, and parts of Asia are integrating this data into primary care workflows.
Big names are involved too. Apple, Empatica, and Fitbit are working with mental health researchers to validate these features in clinical settings. So yes, the hype has some substance, but researchers stress the need for more long-term data before these tools can be seen as reliable diagnostic aids.
Wearables aren't magic wristbands, but they are powerful tools. In the right hands, with the right expectations, they offer a hopeful path toward more proactive, personalized mental health care. Just don't throw away your therapist's number just yet. The future of mental wellness is hybrid, and it's already on your wrist.