US researchers seek to legitimise AI mental health care

NEW YORK: Researchers at Dartmouth College believe artificial intelligence can deliver reliable psychotherapy, distinguishing their work from the unproven and sometimes dubious mental health apps flooding today´s market.

Their application, Therabot, addresses the critical shortage of mental health professionals. According to Nick Jacobson, an assistant professor of data science and psychiatry at Dartmouth, even multiplying the current number of therapists tenfold would leave too few to meet demand.

“We need something different to meet this large need,” Jacobson told AFP. The Dartmouth team recently published a clinical study demonstrating Therabot´s effectiveness in helping people with anxiety, depression and eating disorders.

A new trial is planned to compare Therabot´s results with conventional therapies. The medical establishment appears receptive to such innovation. 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.”