The role of AI in mental health treatment

The role of AI in mental health treatment

The mental health landscape is changing, and artificial intelligence is starting to play a role. From mood tracking apps to 24/7 chatbots that offer therapy-like support. AI tools are becoming increasingly popular, especially among teens and young adults. How safe and effective are they though? And could they ever replace a human therapist? Big questions this morning. Joining us to break it all down, Nine News parenting expert Dr. Cheryl Ziegler to help us understand the promise, the risks, and what parents. Need to know Doctor Ziegler, thanks for being here this morning. Thanks for having me. This is a big conversation. Jeremy Hola just did a story on Friday about this, and we were asking him just so many questions. It’s fascinating. Why is AI what is AI therapy kind of break it down and how does it all work? Yes, so like a really simplistic breakdown, obviously AI stands for artificial intelligence, and what that means is that there are chatbots that are trained to respond like a therapist or a clinician would. And so when. You start interfacing with it so you’re the person and you’re on there and you’re like, do I have depression? You know it is trained to kind of talk back to you like oh I hear you’re having, you know, some concerns about yourself. Tell me more, right? And then you’re like, oh that feels nice because it’s it’s like a human language model. So then you go back and forth and truly they, they’re created by engineers but they are trained usually most of these major companies there’s a there’s a whole staff there’s a whole team of clinicians that are telling it, OK, when when someone says this. This is what we say when they ask this we ask this so I want people to understand it is generally developed by clinicians, but to cut to the chase it is never a replacement for an actual therapist or a licensed practitioner, but it can be really helpful in the supplemental part of things. And what are some of those? What are some of the benefits of using this? I mean, it really does feel like a real person when I asked Chad GPT something, I feel like I have to say like thank you after they give me the answer, right? Like it feels like you’re talking to a person. I do too. I’ll say thanks. I’ll tell it like that was a great idea. um I’ve used it before too. I think I was last summer I was having a bad day and I said I’m having a tough morning what should I do? And the answer was excellent and this, you know, just to be clear, chat GBT isn’t even trained necessarily by clinicians for mental health needs, but it’s aggregating all that data and responding. But I would say, um, you know what we’re seeing in terms of a trend is we’re seeing teens using it and. Kids in college or young adults in college are using this like over 50% and so they’re going to it for mental health needs, physical health needs, all sorts of needs, and so it is really prior to even CATGBT. This is now a multi-billion dollar industry. So this is where insurance companies are even filling in some gaps if there’s accessibility issues. So if there are people who live in rural areas or there’s a specialization maybe that just isn’t. Anywhere near you now this is a combination sort of like AI and telehealth that can respond to needs so there’s a lot of things to be really excited for and there’s also that cautionary piece mainly that you still have to understand there really is not a human on the other end it’s just there to kind of buffer or maybe steer you in the right direction. One thing we were hearing a lot from people that Jeremy spoke with is that it’s the financial factor too that has made this really attractive because. Regular talk therapy with a therapist can be upwards of $150 to 200 bucks a session, and this can be nearly free. So that draw is really there for people. Absolutely this this makes things more accessible. It also gives you a reality check. So again on a platform that is actually trained for mental health, it might say, hey, you know, I’m having problems sleeping. I’m having this, right? So you’re throwing in whatever you’re experiencing and it can also say, yes, this is serious and you should go seek mental health treatment or hey, try these things, you know. Maybe more like meditation and exercise and so it also can gauge that sense of um how serious this is this and the other piece that’s really helpful is the anonymity of it so a lot of people still do have either a stigma or it’s a time issue or they’re just they’re hesitant and so this allows you to go in and say everything and anything that you want and and be steered in the right direction. So I’m very excited about it in terms of like clinicians working with it and saying this is an adjunct to what we do or in. do this mood tracking or journal on here. I like it for those reasons and parents and caregivers are actually that was surprising to me. Latest data shows how much parents and caregivers are really getting into this space, so they’re having an issue with their kid and they’re putting it in there and getting guidance. So I think this is the way of the future. I think the big takeaway is that it’s good, it’s fine, but it’s certainly not the whole package. Yes, it’s not a replacement, — but it can be very
— helpful. Awesome, Dr. Ziegler, thank you so much. We really appreciate you. Thanks for having me. I’ll send.

From mood-tracking apps to 24/7 chatbots that offer therapy-like support, AI tools are becoming increasingly popular, especially among teens and young adults.

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