Can AI be my Therapist?

The world is witnessing a severe mental health crisis. According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million experience some kind of anxiety disorder.  

The country's mental health workforce is also gravely understaffed with there being a severe shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists compared to the number of people suffering from mental illness.  

Benefits of using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to aid mental health

AI can prove to be a powerful tool in the fight against the mental health crisis. It can provide immense support to mental health professionals as the algorithms can be used to analyse and process data, suggest appropriate treatments as well as track a patient’s progress.  

Apart from this, AI tools are available 24/7, at no cost, and they reduce the stigma around accessing treatment. These tools can either be used as stand-alone treatment agents or as a supplement to traditional therapy. Due to the anonymity of an AI algorithm, people might find it easier to talk and open up to a bot.

The use of AI within mental health services can also provide deeper insight into a patient’s needs and also help track their progress based on which it can recommend personalised and more effective treatment plans for the patient.

Several mental health clinics are currently experimenting with automated ways to monitor the quality of therapy sessions. Tech firms are working on tools that can help to better understand the conversation between therapists and clients. Such tools can help ensure high standards of service and can prove to be a game-changer. 

Counseling beyond the clinic with AI

One of the main benefits of using AI in clinical care is its ability to collect massive amounts of data and gather insights from it. Mental health professionals can use these data resources and collect clinically actionable targets to provide more effective and personalised care to their patients. 

At World Well-Being Project (WWBP) in Philadelphia, researchers used an AI Algorithm to collect data from several social media users to examine their posts for identification of linguistic cues that could predict depression. The research found that people suffering from depression express themselves on social media platforms in ways different from those dealing with other chronic conditions. People experiencing depression were found to have mentions of words such as ‘loneliness’, ‘feelings’, ‘I’ and ‘me’ in their posts.

AI also has the potential to pick up on vocal features the human ear can't and analyse vocal cues to predict mental illnesses like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia  

Several companies today are using chatbots that provide direct counselling services to employees by analysing their usage of words in their conversations. Chatbots provide an interactive means of engaging patients in AI-driven mental health interventions.  

There are also apps that allow people with depression, bipolar disorders, and other conditions to maintain an audio or textual journal to track their moods and feelings. This not only helps them structure and reflect upon their daily thoughts and problems but also monitors their progress. 

Future prospects of AI in mental health  

The primary results of inclusion of AI in mental health are promising and the future of long-term efficacy is yet to be determined. Despite it being dependent on several factors, if the industry is able to overcome certain major obstacles, AI will definitely appear as an adjunct in mental healthcare delivery. It can help solve the mental health crisis to a great extent and with proper regulation and protocol, safe, effective, and unbiased AI tools can be developed that will change the way mental health is treated.

Ajay Malgaonkar

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Ajay Malgaonkar is the Offshore Head of Engineering at Prolifics.