The Special Interest Group (SIG) on Mental Health and Tech is an initiative part of the TU Delft Institute for Health Systems Science, aiming to connect researchers working in mental health research and enable them to make impact with their research through joint activities. We strive to develop a community where researchers can network, learn from each other, and start joint projects. 

We are pleased to welcome you to our upcoming event. If planning to join please register at the end of this form.

Abstract: Neurotechnologies promise fast, efficient psychiatric insights not readily available through the conventional observation of patients. Recording and processing brain signals provides information from 'beneath the skull' that can provide a basis to evaluate general behaviour and functioning. But it ought not to be forgotten that the use of such technologies is part of an interpersonal human practice of neuroscience informed psychiatry. This talk notes some challenges in the integration of neurotechnologies into psychiatry and suggests vigilance particularly in respect to a wider bio-psycho-social model of mental health. In this way, psychiatry can avoid a drift toward an overly reductive technological approach while nonetheless benefitting from promising advances in neuroscience and technology.

 

Bio: Dr Stephen Rainey is a senior researcher in philosophy and ethics, specializing in neuroethics and neurophilosophy as part of a wider philosophy and technology agenda. His background is in analytic philosophy of language, discourse ethics, and governance theories, with a smattering of physics along the way. These themes come together in his 2023 book Philosophical Perspectives on Brain Data, which raises and addresses questions about how neurotechnologies can and ought to be used. He is currently exploring intersections between neurotechnologied and LLMs, especially the prospect of mind-reading technology.