Artificial Intelligence Paving a Way for Mental Health

At least one in every five adults are affected by mental difficulties in the United States. On a global level, the number is much bigger, with alone in Europe, almost 83 million people are suffering from mental health issues. However, where there is a problem, technology always has a solution. How about productively using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve this issue?

This might sound surprising to many but, AI is already being used to treat mental health issues or even examine your voice for any evidence of depression. We all know the power of AI solving issues ranging from global prosperity to complicated economic decisions. While we have witnessed the impact the AI in almost every field, using AI in the field of medical health is surprisingly new.

Like, a chatbot app named Woebot is an emotional on-call helper. The look and feel of the app is like iMessage, just like a texting app. The chipper bot asks various questions across the day which are genuinely on emotional aspects. For example, "Can you resonate about what you're grateful for?" Additionally, it also has the ability to examine your mood over time. The app was launched last year and is free to use. However, the app cannot be treated as a therapist which can replace humans. Preferably, the app is for people who are not in need of a mental physician and just a counsellor or who are not able to reach out to mental health experts at the moment. It's an instant resource available to people who might have sudden anxiety or panic attacks.

Alison Darcy, the creator of this app also, a psychologist created this app for improving the mental health of everyone. They are inspiring people to make a shift towards accepting that everybody has mental health and each individual should take care of it just like they look after their physical health every day. Darcy further emphasizes that one of the best use cases for AI is mental health due to lack of clinicians. So, a lot of tasks are shifted from humans to an app like Woebot as it is always there for you no matter the time of the day and it doesn't give a bill.

Detecting mental health issues early enough is very crucial for the successful healing of the patient. AI software is already being used for indicating markers which indicate a high possibility of cancer at early stages. How about AI being used similarly to give you early signs of your mental health? Until now, we've been following traditional practice wherein the patient is supposed to notice and share concrete changes along with the examinations of mental health experts. Here, AI can be used to detect early signs of any mental health difficulties.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has partnered with the US Department of Veterans Affairs and has funded a company named Cogito. The company is working on the trial of an app called Companion, which basically monitors the mental health of the veterans. This app submissively examines a veteran's phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The app does this by paying attention to the sound of the individual's voice as well as examining the frequency of their phone's usage. The pitch in the voice, changes in the tone of the voice and the phone usage are all behavioral signals which the app can use to diagnose important and sensitive changes in the patient's mental health.

In the same way, IBM is also using artificial intelligence to detect mental health difficulties. Computational Psychiatry of IBM with Neuroimaging group, along with many other universities are anticipating the beginning of psychosis in users. They've designed an artificial intelligence software that observes speech pattern differences between patients who have psychosis and who do not have. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is one of the tools used to examine the speech for different parameters. Only after this, a predictive model is built. They've worked out this AI software on two studies, wherein, IBM has gained an unbelievable 83% of efficiency in the second study. This is a powerful example of a measurable illustration of good listening.

Well, not only improving mental health treatment but, artificial intelligence can also be used for providing personalized diagnosis and treatments. One such online platform named Ginger.io provides such facilities. Along with clinics, Ginger.io uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to give tailored suggestions according to the needs and wants of the patients as well as giving access to different treatments which the user can undergo.

Currently, artificial intelligence is still used as a support system. However, in the near future, artificial intelligence will be widely adopted in the field of mental health where the impact will have a huge significance. Yet, we need to make sure that all research and development should be backed with accurate data addressing all the shortcomings and loopholes.