Imagine being late for a crucial business meeting because of traffic. Your face starts to sweat as your mind begins to rush with ideas like “I’m going to look like a terrible employee,” “My employer has never liked me,” and “I’m going to get fired.” You pull out your phone from your pocket, open an app, and send a message. When you respond, the program asks you to select one of three prepared options. You choose “Seek assistance with a problem.”
An automated chatbot that draws on conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) is on the other end of this text discussion. Using “huge volumes of data, machine learning, and natural language processing to help replicate human interactions,” CAI is a system that converses with people.One such chatbot can be found on the app Woebot. Alison Darcy, a psychologist and technologist, introduced it in 2017. Since the 1960s, psychotherapists have used conversational AI for mental health, and by 2025, it is expected that the market for chatbots will have grown to US$1.25 billion.
However, there are risks involved with relying too much on the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots’ synthetic empathy.According to research, these conversational agents can successfully lessen young individuals’ anxiety, depression symptoms, and substance abuse history. The best use of CAI chatbots is to implement cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in a systematic, practical, and skill-based manner.
Psychoeducation is a key component of CBT because it helps patients understand their mental health conditions and the various tools and tactics that can be used to treat them.
Those who may want instant assistance with their symptoms can benefit from using these programs. An automated chatbot, for instance, can pass the time while patients wait for expert mental health care. They can also assist people who are exhibiting mental health symptoms outside of therapy sessions,and those wary of stigma around seeking therapy.
