With the increasing presence of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered apps, it's almost unbelievable to think that less than two years ago, most of what is almost commonplace today would have bordered on science fiction. And yet we already naturally talk about generative AI and its diverse uses in creating almost all types of content. Without elaborating, ChatGPT reached 180.5 million monthly active users in December 2023 and was voted Application of the Year by Android users. The presence of AI in our daily lives is almost ubiquitous, reaching areas as diverse as leisure (with streaming platforms), scientific research, education, marketing or medical care. And of course this also includes psychology.
But would you turn to an AI-based virtual therapist to offer you psychological help? “Certainly, depending on the problems,” admits Rubén Nieto, professor of psychology and education at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). “When it comes to receiving psychological intervention, people may find it less difficult to penetrate through a machine than with a person (…). “In addition, the costs are certainly much lower and it could be a way to address a need for psychological care that we do not currently offer a solution for,” he argues.
It is not for nothing that in Character AI: AI-Powered Chat, the best AI app of the year for Google, one of the most popular chatbots is the one called Psychologist, which, according to the BBC, received 18 million visits during the month of November alone. And there are also 475 robots on the platform whose names contain terms such as “therapy”, “therapist”, “psychiatrist” or “psychologist”.
An example of the importance of AI in the field of psychology is an experiment carried out in the USA at the beginning of the century to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans. “They created an avatar of a psychologist in a virtual reality world and it was really very well programmed in that it showed understanding to the patients, made them think that I understand them, asked them about their problem and gave them a good one Nieto explains, “to the point that some of these veterans found it easier to talk to this avatar than to a real person.” And be careful, because in reality it wasn't even a real person a groundbreaking system: One of the first conversation bots in history, Eliza, was developed in 1966 at the renowned American MIT by Professor Joseph Weizenbaum based on Carl Rogers' psychotherapy method.
What applications does AI have in psychology?
Considering the use of AI applications in the field of psychology raises many doubts about their usefulness and effectiveness. One might ask, for example, whether we are at risk of becoming accustomed to turning to a virtual therapist and therefore not turning to a real professional when needed. Since an AI is only as good as the information it was trained with, one even wonders to what extent it was programmed by someone who is an expert in how mental health works.
“The risk is that if you go to Google and type in 'psychological interventions using artificial intelligence,' you are accessing a machine that you don't know who programmed it, where it gets the data from, or how it guides you “But if it's properly programmed and tested, I don't think it should be a problem,” says Nieto. It all depends on where the trend goes, he says, because a few years ago no one used Google Maps to get around, and today it is indispensable. “For that reason, I feel like we'll end up integrating it much more into our daily lives, and I think for psychological interventions as well.”
For Mireia Cabero, associate professor of psychology and education at UOC, the AI applied in this field is already proving to some extent efficient in concrete measures “such as the initial screening of cases and the diagnosis and evaluation of mental disorders”. This makes it easier for the specialist to diagnose and speeds up decision-making. It is also useful to accompany patients through various processes of emotional pain (such as grief or recovery from trauma), self-awareness, and reconsideration of strategies for non-serious complaints or life conflicts; “to reduce their experience of loneliness through therapeutic conversations and with educational and transformative purposes” and even to consider their possible referral to emergency support units such as suicide prevention or serious youth disorders.
Risks and challenges
However, some interventions also involve risks that should not be ignored, “such as: “For example, overlooking critical, serious and potentially risky cases (suicides, image and eating disorders or drug abuse, etc.) due to possible errors, biases or imperfect algorithms,” says Cabero. And there is still one question to be answered: Is there a risk that AI will replace the work of a real therapist? This seems unlikely at the moment: “It does not seem that artificial intelligence can recreate human empathy, psychological presence (being and the knowledge of being there for the other) and the emotional support that we offer with sensitivity, joy and DNA. “. the person himself.
When it comes to making sense of AI in mental health, the strategy for Nieto is to educate the population so that they know how to determine whether a technology is appropriate or not: “This has already happened to us .” previously in the field of health in general and psychology in particular. If you had a health problem before AI, what did you do? You went to Google and typed “it hurts so much” and you got millions of entries, many with false information (…). We need to teach people to pay attention, for example, to who is the originator of this technology, to find out who developed it and for what purposes, etc.”
Community medicine, research and support
As the UOC experts remind us, the current applications of AI in psychology are not limited to the aspects already mentioned. For example, in community mental health intervention programs, standardized content is offered to the population over the Internet, which, thanks to artificial intelligence, can be personalized to provide exactly the content they need through interaction with each person.
On the other hand, AI in research can help search scientific literature more quickly so that professionals are always aware of the most effective treatments; in addition to monitoring patients in the intervals between different therapy sessions.
The shortage of psychologists is a key factor
While the pandemic highlighted the importance of paying attention to mental health issues, the post-pandemic period has done the same and shown that little or nothing has been learned from the experience: “So since it is a high-stress situation The need for psychologists in the health and social system was very clear. But the situation has returned to the starting point,” denounces Nieto. The reality, he emphasizes, is that access to the public health system is complicated and clearly inadequate.
“I think that we have not made any progress in this regard and that we need to continue working at the political level,” he continued. “And not just at the mental health level, but also in other diseases where we play a very important role, such as oncology, chronic pain, diabetes and other traditional health problems.”
According to Andrea García, the shortage of doctors becomes even more evident when comparing the Spanish scenario with that of other partners in the European community: Spain has six clinical psychologists per 100,000 inhabitants in the public network (three times less than in Europe). average) and 11 psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants, almost five times less than in Switzerland (52) and about half as many as in France (23), Germany (27) or the Netherlands (24). Meanwhile, suicide rates and mental health problems continue to rise.
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