AI-powered mental health apps, featuring friendly bots ready to chat up self-help mental health strategies, are gaining traction. Often referred to as \u201ccoaches,\u201d these chatbots communicate via instant messaging, texting, and even virtual conversation. Some apps are free, some subscription, some a combo, and all are still evolving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this point, particularly if you\u2019re a PCP, you may be asking, \u201cWhy am I reading this? Mental health isn\u2019t in my wheelhouse!\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Harvard Business Review article says otherwise. Those seeking mental healthcare are turning more than ever to emergency rooms and PCPs for treatment. \u201cPatients with depression, for instance, see their primary care physicians more than five times on average annually, versus fewer than three times for those without depression.\u201d1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, you probably do \u2013 or will soon \u2013 have patients turning to you with mental health issues and perhaps asking questions about the increasing chatbot population. To keep everyone on the same page, let\u2019s review a few of the AI-powered mental health apps that patients may ask about.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Four With a Following \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Woebot<\/em>, described as a \u201ccharming robot friend,\u201d is a chatbot that communicates through instant messaging. The technology, developed by several psychologists from Stanford University, is programmed to replicate conversations you might have with a human therapist. For instance, Woebot <\/em>might ask about your mood and thoughts, \u201clisten\u201d to how you feel, learn about you, and offer evidence-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) tools.2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Tess<\/em>, developed by X2AI, is a texting buddy who declares, \u201cI am not a person, but am a chatbot trained by experts and have a couple of cool tools up my sleeve to help you feel better.\u201d One tool prompts Tess <\/em>to text precisely when you\u2019re most likely to suffer a panic attack and ask how you\u2019re doing. She also provides coping mechanisms, encouraging words, and clinically proven mental health education sources.3<\/sup> \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Ellie <\/em>is a virtual human \u2013 a 3D avatar \u2013 that you interact with on a monitor, as if it\u2019s a face-to-face conversation. Her facial, body, and voice recognition software detects nonverbal emotional and behavioral cues, which is used to screen patients but never treat. In fact, Ellie <\/em>studies 66 points on your face. The Institute of Creative Technology, part of The University of Southern California, originally developed Ellie <\/em>to help screen veterans for PTSD. Today, she\u2019s branching out. How far Ellie <\/em>can go is yet to be determined.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Cautionary Tale<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Surveys and studies suggest that AI\nmental health technology results aren\u2019t half bad. That said, the long-term\nefficacy of mental health AI has yet to be satisfactorily tested and more importantly, we don\u2019t yet know if there could\nbe any negative effects, warns Vaile Wright, PhD, licensed psychologist\nand director of research and special projects at the American Psychological\nAssociation. \u201cThis technology has a lot of\npromise, but it\u2019s outpacing our research. For example, one of our concerns is\nhow a chatbot would handle someone in a crisis. If someone is suicidal and\nexpresses this to a chatbot, what would happen? I know these apps have\ndisclaimers, stating that the chatbot is not a therapist, but these warnings\nare often in the fine print. Let\u2019s be clear \u2013 most of us don\u2019t read the fine\nprint. So could someone\u2019s dependence on a chatbot ultimately cause harm? We\njust don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proof Positive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nusing AI-powered mental health apps properly and as intended, Dr. Wright\ndoes feel there\u2019s positive news to report. \u201cThe\nbest research we have right now tells us that these apps can be beneficial when\nused as part of an established relationship between a patient and mental health\nexpert,\u201d Dr. Wright explains. \u201cMany of these apps can augment therapy by\nhelping individuals think about goals and how to achieve them when they\u2019re not\nin that one hour session with their therapist.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\naddition, a few studies point to these apps\u2019 benefits. Let\u2019s circle back and\nconsider research attached to the four examples above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 A study, including 129 volunteer Wysa users, collected data specific to those who self-reported symptoms of depression. Based on app usage between two consecutive screening time points, two groups of users emerged \u2013 high users and low users. Sixty-eight percent of participants in the high-user group found the app experience helpful and encouraging when compared to the low-user group.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 A 2017 clinical trial of Woebot <\/em>found that participants who interacted with the app for two weeks and up to 20 sessions reported almost a 20 percent reduction in anxiety symptoms as compared to a control group of participants directed to read mental health self-help material. The study concluded: \u201cConversational agents appear to be a feasible, engaging, and effective way to deliver CBT.\u201d6<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 A study published in December 2018 assessed the feasibility and efficacy of using the integrative psychological AI app Tess <\/em>to reduce self-identified symptoms of depression and anxiety in college students. This study included 75 participants from 15 universities across the United States. The study’s authors conclude that AI can serve as a cost-effective and accessible therapeutic agent \u2013 although no AI-powered mental health technology has yet been invented that can replace the role of a trained therapist.7<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 In a research project with soldiers who recently returned from Afghanistan, Ellie <\/em>uncovered more evidence of PTSD than the Post-Deployment Health Assessment administered by the military. In addition, the study found that Ellie <\/em>was able to identify certain nonverbal \u201ctells\u201d common to individuals suffering from PTSD.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no doubt that chatbots and virtual therapists are proving their worth in the AI revolution in mental health. And every healthcare provider should at least have a clear picture of what these apps are and how far they can go. At the same time caution is advised. These are tools to assist the mental health specialist \u2013 not replace them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Resources <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) Glick, P. G. S. (2018, October 24). AI’s Potential to Diagnose and Treat Mental Illness<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) Your charming robot friend who is here for you, 24\/7. (0AD).<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) For individuals. (0AD).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4) Carter, K. (2019, January 9). How Computer-Assisted Therapy Helps Patients and Practitioners (Pt. 1). <\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n 5) Wysa. (0AD).<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n 6) Fitzpatrick, K. K., Darcy, A., & Vierhile, M. (2017). Delivering Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Young Adults With Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Using a Fully Automated Conversational Agent (Woebot): A Randomized Controlled Trial.\u00a0<\/a>JMIR mental health<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0<\/a>4<\/a><\/em>(2), e19. doi:10.2196\/mental.7785.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n 7) Fulmer, R., Joerin, A., Gentile, B., Lakerink, L., & Rauws, M. (2018). Using Psychological Artificial Intelligence (Tess) to Relieve Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: Randomized Controlled Trial.\u00a0<\/a>JMIR mental health<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0<\/a>5<\/a><\/em>(4), e64. doi:10.2196\/mental.9782<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AI-powered mental health apps, featuring friendly bots ready to chat up self-help mental health strategies, are gaining traction. Often referred to as \u201ccoaches,\u201d these chatbots communicate via instant messaging, texting, and even virtual conversation. Some apps are free, some subscription, some a combo, and all are still evolving. At this point, particularly if you\u2019re a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}