The ‘smart pill’ for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder raises tricky ethical questions

Major mental illness was chosen for this expanded surveillance because of the stigma and perceived vulnerability of people with these diagnoses. But the effort to involuntarily control other people to make money will continue and expand.....
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Smart pills” that can track whether or when you’ve taken your medication might be helpful for some people. Unfortunately, the first smart pill approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Abilify MyCite, is a drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. That raises tricky ethical issues.

Decades of research and clinical experience support the fact that not taking medicines as prescribed is a significant problem across all domains of medicine. Smart pills might help people with memory problems, or those with diabetes, heart failure, or other medication-dependent conditions who want to do a better job of sticking with their prescribed regimens.

There’s no question that mental illness kills people and shortens lives, and that medications can be helpful. The World Health Organization identifies mental illness as a major contributor to the global burden of disease. Episodes of psychosis, which are common among individuals who do not take appropriate psychiatric medications, put them in additional danger by actually damaging the brain and increasing the risk of their harming themselves or others.