Rethinking epistemic injustice in psychiatric digital phenotyping from the perspective of ignorance.

Abstract

Digital phenotyping is a novel approach to assessing individual health conditions by collecting and analysing data generated through interactions with digital devices. Although digital phenotyping is regarded as a promising tool for transforming psychiatric clinical practice, its potential to exacerbate epistemic injustice remains a central ethical concern. However, epistemic injustice in psychiatric digital phenotyping should be understood as rooted in specific forms of ignorance, which are not necessarily negative obstacles. On the contrary, phenomenological, objective and structural ignorance in psychiatric digital phenotyping can be leveraged to enhance patient epistemic empowerment and thereby help to overcome epistemic injustice.