The Problem With Mental Health Bots

Her experiences with therapists were either good or bad. Berkowitz, who is in her fifties and lives in the US state of Maine, downloaded Youper, a mental health app with a therapist function powered by artificial intelligence.

Berkowitz uses the Youper chatbot to prompt her to change her negative thinking patterns as she writes down her thoughts. She says the app forces her to think. She says it is available to you. She doesn't have to wait a week for therapy if she gets triggered.

Artificial intelligence therapists can give a robotic ear any time of day or night. One of the biggest barriers to accessing help is the fact that they are inexpensive. Some people feel more comfortable talking about their feelings to a robot than a person.

There are millions of users for the most popular Artificial Intelligence Therapists. Their popularity is related to a lack of resources. There is a global median of 13 mental health workers per 100,000 people. The number of mental health workers in high-income countries is more than double that in low-income countries. The mass anxiety and loss caused by the Pandemic has made the problem worse. An estimated 76 million cases of anxiety disorders and 53 million cases of depression were caused by the swine flu, according to a paper published in The Lancet. Therapy bots are filling the gap in a world where mental health resources are not plentiful.

Wysa can be taken for example. 3 million people have used the emotionally intelligent artificial intelligence chatbot. It is being rolled out to teenagers in parts of London's state school system, while the United Kingdom's National Health Service is running a randomized control trial to see if the app can help the millions sitting on a long waiting list for mental health help. The app was licensed by the government of Singapore to give free support to its population during the Pandemic. Wysa received a breakthrough device designation from the FDA to treat depression, anxiety, and chronic musculoskeletal pain, in order to fast-track the testing and approval of the product.

Ilina Singh is a professor of neuroscience and society at the University of Oxford. The internet has a lot of information on how to deal with mental health issues. John Torous is the director of the digital Psychiatry division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts. It won't be for some.