Their application, Therabot, addresses the critical shortage of mental health professionals.
“We need something different to meet this large need,“ Jacobson told AFP.
A new trial is planned to compare Therabot's results with conventional therapies.
Vaile Wright, senior director of health care innovation at the American Psychological Association (APA), described “a future where you will have an AI-generated chatbot rooted in science that is co-created by experts and developed for the purpose of addressing mental health.”
Jacobson's team has so far dedicated close to six years to developing Therabot, with safety and effectiveness as primary goals.
The Dartmouth team is prioritizing understanding how their digital therapist works and establishing trust.
Care or cash?
According to Wright, many apps appear designed more to capture attention and generate revenue than improve mental health.
Darlene King, chair of the American Psychiatric Association's committee on mental health technology, acknowledged AI's potential for addressing mental health challenges but emphasizes the need for more information before determining true benefits and risks.
To minimize unexpected outcomes, the Therabot team went beyond mining therapy transcripts and training videos to fuel its AI app by manually creating simulated patient-caregiver conversations.
Instead, “the FDA may authorize their marketing after reviewing the appropriate pre-market submission,“ according to an agency spokesperson.
Therapist always in
Bay says Earkick is conducting a clinical study of its digital therapist, which detects emotional crisis signs or suicidal ideation and sends help alerts.
AI, for now, is suited more for day-to-day mental health support than life-shaking breakdowns, according to Bay.
One user named Darren, who declined to provide his last name, found ChatGPT helpful in managing his traumatic stress disorder, despite the OpenAI assistant not being designed specifically for mental health.
“I would recommend it to people who suffer from anxiety and are in distress.”
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