Researchers hope that AI can help the shortage of mental health providers.
BASAK GURBUZ DERMA / GETTY Images / Moment RF
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BASAK GURBUZ DERMA / GETTY Images / Moment RF
New research suggests that, given the good type of training, AI robots can provide mental health therapy with as much efficiency as – or more – human clinicians.
The recent studypublished in the New England Journal of Medicineshows the results of the first randomized clinical trial for AI therapy.
Researchers from Dartmouth College have built the bot as a way to adopt a new approach to a long-standing problem: the United States continues to struggle with a acute shortage mental health providers. “I think one of the things that does not lie well is humans,” said Nick Jacobson, a clinical psychologist who was part of this research team. For 340 people in the United States, there is only one mental health clinician, according to Some estimates.
While many AI robots already on the market claim to offer mental health care, some have Dubious results or even have leads people to self -harm.
More than five years ago, Jacobson and his colleagues began to train their AI bot in best clinical practices. The project, says Jacobson, involved a lot Tests and error Before, this led to quality results.
“The effects that we strongly see reflect what you would see in the best trials based on evidence of psychotherapy,” explains Jacobson. He says that these results were comparable to “studies with people given a dose of gold standard for the best treatment we have”.
The researchers have brought together a group of around 200 people who had diagnosed conditions such as depression and anxiety, or risked developing food disorders. Half of them worked with IA therapy robots. Compared to those who have not received treatment, those who have shown significant improvement.
One of the most surprising results, explains Jacobson, was the quality of people related to people trained with their bots. “People were really developing this strong relationship with an ability to trust it,” said Jacobson, “and feeling as they can work together, on their mental health symptoms.”
The strength of links and confidence with therapists is one of the global predictors of efficiency in cognitive-behavioral speeches and therapy.
Another advantage of AI therapy is the lack of time constraints. Jacobson said that he and his team were surprised by the frequency to which patients accessed their AI therapists. “We had people who sent a message to their symptoms of insomnia in the middle of the night,” he said, “and that their needs were met at these times.”
The American Psychological Association recently raised the alarm on the dangers of the use of unregulated AI therapy robots.
But the organization says that it is satisfied with the rigorous clinical training that researchers have invested in this model.
“The Therabot in this study checks a bunch of boxes in which we hope that technologists would begin to engage,” explains Vaile Wright, director of the Office of Health Care Innovation. “It is rooted in the psychological sciences. It demonstrates a certain efficiency and security, and it was co-created by experts in the matter in order to solve mental health problems.”
Dartmouth researchers emphasize that technology is still far from Market and say they have to perform additional trials on the Therapot before it is widely available.
And said Wright, human therapists should not be intimidated by their AI counterparts. Given the huge shortage of mental health providers, “I don’t think humans must be concerned about the fact that they are going to be put out of work,” she said.
She says the country needs all the quality therapists we can get – whether human or bot.