Figure 1.

Merging pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to improve patient engagement and therapy outcomes for depression and other CNS disorders. Brain imaging and physiological studies suggest several overlapping mechanisms for CNS drugs and non-pharmacological interventions such as yoga, mindfulness, breathing meditations, and exercises (13, 40, 41). Delivering non-pharmacological interventions through telemedicine and medical mobile apps (software as medical device) opens long-term prospects to integrate disease-specific self-care with pharmacotherapies using drug–device combination products. Companies such as WellDoc, Pear Therapeutics, or Akili Interactive advance development of digital therapeutics for diverse chronic medical conditions. Regulatory agencies are involved in ensuring the patient’s safety and clinical efficacy of medical mobile apps (42).