Big Data Analytics and Mental Health: Would Ethics Be the Only Safeguard Against the Risks of Identifying “Potential Patients”?

Despite all the prospects for data growth, sharing, and processing, and all the benefits that big data can bring, this revolution is not exempt from risks. Even if, at some point, computers may be able to provide diagnoses with greater accuracy than medical professionals, would ethics be the only safeguard against the possible risks? In this article, we implement a pragmatic approach to answer this question by focusing on possible outcomes concerning “potential patients.” We define a “potential patient” as an individual who has not yet shown obvious or early signs of disease. Through the outcomes and inferences derived from big data analysis, such a patient could potentially require early treatment, more accurate diagnoses, and medications that are better adapted to the patient’s conditions.