These days everyone is exploring with AI, from kids to adults, even our seniors.
How they’re using it depends on what age group you’re in.
What’s certain is, it’s changing the way we do things.
Doctors and therapists agree that all this technology is having a profound effect on our mental health.
Artificial intelligence is working its way into our everyday lives.
It’s changing everything from how we bond with others to taking the ‘work’ out of ‘simply’ thinking.
Dr. Jordan Karp is the Clinical Service Chief for Behavioral Medicine at Banner University Medical Center.
He warns chatbots are programmed to respond in a way to keep you engaged.
“The chatbot doesn’t care. It is not human. Its interactions with the human are based on plausibility, not love or care or even facts all the time,” Dr. Karp explained.
In today’s world, it seems technology consumes a lot of what we do.
Dr. Karp said he is treating more patients for common psychiatric conditions like depression, anxiety, addiction, and insomnia.
Dr. Karp said, “so many of these young people are just texting with their friends, on social media, scrolling late into the night.”
Therapy is used to break these bad habits. Kate Kincaid is a legal therapist at Tucson Counseling Associates.
She explained, “It’s changing the neurology even of our brains. Just how much people are dependent on these apps and social media, too.”
She has been offering therapy for nearly 20 years. Kate said she really saw a jump in patients post-pandemic.
“We’ve seen year after year an increase in people. There are just more mental health issues going on right now. We screen for tech usage in our clients and we’re seeing people who are on screens and using a lot of tech are having higher scores of anxiety and depression,” said Kincaid.
Her treatment plan includes reducing tech use.
Coincidentally, there’s an app that can help with that.
She showed KGUN 9 a behavioral tracking app that helps to reduce time spent on your favorite apps.
Our seniors are seeing the effects of AI, too, using ChatGPT to better understand their diagnosis.
“I see people putting in their own electronic medical record and uploading it to these systems, which I think is a terrible idea,” Dr. Karp said.
It’s often wrong, Dr. Karp explained and leads to even more confusion.
“ChatGPT gave them the incorrect diagnosis and said that they were demented when they actually just had some mild cognitive impairment. It made a mistake and it increased this patient’s anxiety of their cognitive status,” explained Dr. Karp.
It’s not all bad.
Medical experts acknowledge the benefits of technology.
Like therapist, Kate Kincaid, walking us through a behavioral tracking app.
At Banner, it can take up to a month to get in to see a doctor.
So, a high-quality app can be a good bridge till you’re able to get in to see a therapist or psychiatrist.