Personalized Well-Being Interventions (PWIs): A New Frontier in Mental Health

Mental health, affecting an estimated 450 million people globally, is increasingly recognized as a critical health concern. Traditional mental health interventions, often generic and standardized, fail to address the unique individual needs, leading to less than optimal outcomes. Personalized well-being interventions (PWIs), leveraging affective computing, emerge as a promising alternative. These interventions are customized to individual preferences and needs, accessible through diverse platforms like smartphones, wearables, and virtual reality. PWIs hold the potential to enhance mental healthcare by providing early intervention, effective symptom management, and essential coping skills. Although still in developmental stages, PWIs represent a transformative approach in mental healthcare, offering more personalized, accessible, and affordable solutions. This chapter delves into key studies of well-being research using smartphones, explores the potential of other computing platforms for well-being research, and highlights examples of affective computing interventions, underscoring their significant role in advancing mental healthcare.