Teresa Berkowitz’s Experience with therapists who have been hit or missed. “Some are good, some are useful, some are just a waste of time and money,” she said. When some childhood trauma was rekindled six years ago, instead of connecting with a human in the flesh, Berkowitz – who is in his fifties and lives in the US state of Maine – downloaded Youper, a mental health app with artificial intelligence chatbot therapy functionality.
Once or twice a week Berkowitz keeps a guided journal using the Youper chatbot, where the bot prompts her to detect and change negative thought patterns as she writes down her thoughts. The app forced her to rethink what was causing her anxiety, she said. “It is always available to you,” she said. If she’s triggered, she doesn’t have to wait a week for a therapy appointment.
Unlike their living and breathing counterparts, AI therapists can lend a robotic ear any time, day or night. They are cheap, if not free – an important factor considering cost is often one of the biggest barrier to access help. Plus, some people feel more comfortable expressing their feelings to an inner bot than to a person, Research has found.
The most popular AI therapists have millions of users. However, the explosion in their popularity coincided with a severe shortage of resources. Based on data According to the World Health Organization, there are 13 mental health workers globally for every 100,000 people. In high-income countries, the number of mental health workers is 40 times higher than in low-income countries. And the anxiety and mass loss caused by the pandemic has increased the problem and widened this gap even further. One paper published year The Lancet in November 2021 it was estimated that the pandemic has caused an additional 53 million cases of depression and 76 million cases of anxiety disorders globally. In a world of scarce mental health resources, therapy bots are increasingly filling the void.
Take Wysa as an example. The “emotionally intelligent” AI chatbot launched in 2016 and currently has 3 million users. It’s happening roll out for teenagers in parts of London’s public school system, while the UK’s NHS is also running randomized controlled trial to see if the app can help millions of people using it (very long) waiting list for specialist help for mental health conditions. Singapore Government App licensing in 2020 to provide free assistance to its people in times of pandemic. And in June 2022, Wysa take a breakthrough device designated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and chronic musculoskeletal pain, the purpose of which is to fast-track the testing and approval process. Browse products.
In a world where there aren’t enough services to meet demand, they’re probably a “good enough move,” said Ilina Singh, professor of neuroscience and society at the University of Oxford. These chatbots may just be a new, accessible way to present information on how to deal with mental health issues that are already freely available on the internet. “For some, it’s going to be very helpful and that’s amazing and we’re thrilled,” said John Torous, director of the division of digital psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts. . “And for some, it won’t.”
