Ingestible sensors, data, and pharmaceuticals: Subjectivity in the era of digital mental health

Abstract

This article examines a notable innovation of digital mental health: Abilify MyCite, approved by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration in 2017. This antipsychotic is equipped with an ingestible sensor which communicates with a wearable patch, smartphone app, and online portal. The article approaches Abilify MyCite as an assemblage of technologies: trackers, sensors, patches, apps, programming, smartphones, and the Internet. Drawing on science and technology studies and new materialism, it examines the production of subjectivity in the era of digital mental health. Through this case study, the article offers a theoretical framework for understanding how subjectivity and knowledge of mental health and illness are transformed through the combination of technology and pharmaceuticals, and the entanglement of human and non-human actors. I propose viewing mental health and illness in times of digital mental health as technological world-making, where sensors, objects, knowledge, and subjectivity emerge together in more-than-human worlds.