What is AI therapy? Pros and cons for mental health care

AI therapy has been a hot topic over the past few years. This is largely due to a growing shortage of mental health professionals and a spike in mental health diagnoses following the COVID-19 pandemic. The supply of affordable treatment options for psychotherapy isn’t meeting demand, and patients have begun to look elsewhere to get the support they need.

However, while AI therapy may offer benefits to people with milder forms of depression, anxiety, and chronic stress, this use case for artificial intelligence also comes with limitations and risks you should be aware of before you start. Understanding how these artificial intelligence tools can support your health and where they may fall short will help you decide if AI therapy is right for you.

What is AI therapy?

AI therapy is a type of mental health support that uses artificial intelligence to provide personalized guidance. Online AI therapy applications let you interact with software prompts verbally or via text through chatbots. These apps and programs guide you through sessions with scripted questions and answers, similar to speaking with a therapist, using sophisticated algorithms to analyze your responses. 

The technology leverages machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to fine-tune its responses. Over time, the software closely approximates an in-person session with a mental health professional. Based on your replies, the generative AI therapy chatbot suggests tools, exercises, and games to help you feel better. 

While AI therapy may seem like a recent development, the first AI-powered mental health chatbot, Eliza, was introduced in 1966, according to an article published in Nature. But integrating AI and mental health care has taken on new urgency as the mental health crisis grows. 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than one in five people experience mental health challenges, but less than half of people diagnosed with a mental illness received treatment in 2021. That’s where mobile and web-based apps and programs come in. Software developers hope to use AI to provide affordable (or sometimes free) access to therapy and mental health support for patients experiencing roadblocks in traditional psychotherapy. 

Is AI therapy effective?

Studies are ongoing to determine the efficacy of AI therapy, according to an article published in Nature. However, results from a study published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics found that some AI applications can successfully deliver cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to patients needing additional support to in-person therapy. 

Still, AI therapy comes with its own set of limitations, and more in-depth and diverse research is needed for scientists to state whether these clinical applications of AI are beneficial. In the meantime, it’s safer to use these AI tools in conjunction with in-person psychotherapy or the support of mental health clinicians. 

How does AI therapy work? 

AI therapy uses the persona of an AI therapist to generate interactive, therapeutic conversations that are personalized to your responses. Over time, this “AI therapist” can adapt to your individual needs based on your previous sessions, enabling it to suggest coping mechanisms and relevant information that you may find useful. You can access it anytime and as often as you need. 

Some AI applications and bots also interface with your smartwatch or other wearables. According to an article published in Frontiers in Psychology, these technologies can monitor heart rate, sleep cycles, and other biometric data to give greater insight into psychiatric disorders and inform psychological treatments. They might use this data to prompt you to take your medication and exercise.

If your app recognizes emotional distress signals, artificial intelligence may notify you via your smartphone with recommendations to help. If you’re in crisis, the software can connect you with a human for immediate support.

AI therapy vs. AI coaching

AI coaching is a digital tool that uses artificial intelligence to help individuals grow in both their personal and professional lives. While AI therapy and AI coaching are both designed to help with self-improvement, AI coaching is not clinical in nature. It isn’t meant to be a medical treatment for mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. 

For example, AI life coaching can offer the following benefits:

• Personalized guidance: AI coaches can help you in real time with things like time management, stress relief techniques, and emotional regulation.
• Mindset shifts: AI coaches can help with mindset coaching whenever you need a change in perspective to overcome limiting beliefs.
• Goal tracking: Working toward your goals is a daily task, and tracking your progress daily with an AI coach can help maintain your self-awareness of your progress in between coaching sessions.
• Continuous support: AI coaches are available 24/7 and can provide needed support in between sessions with a human life coach.

Similar to AI therapy, AI coaching is designed to work alongside traditional coaching, not replace it. You can work with a BetterUp Coach to lay the foundation for daily maintenance with AI coaching.

Types of AI therapy tools 

While many people think of a text-based bot when they think of AI therapy, there are a few different types of artificial intelligence psychotherapy tools that can complement and support in-person sessions with clinicians. Here are some other types of AI systems to consider:

1. Chatbots

Generative AI chatbots are a popular choice for providing interactive applications that mimic text therapy. The functionality of these bots may feel similar to using tools like ChatGPT, and you can use them to help you manage everything from sleep issues to social anxiety. 

Chatbots operate via text or voice messaging and, based on your responses, offer the following: 

• Interactive quizzes
• Mindfulness exercises
• Relaxation techniques
• Conflict management tools
• Meditation guidance
• Session journal entries

Many of these applications also offer a standard SOS feature to contact immediate support in case of an emergency. Some apps are completely free, while others are subscription-based or require in-app purchases to access certain features. 

Some of the most popular AI chatbots for therapy are grounded in evidence-based tools like CBT to help people increase their emotional resilience. Others use AI to interpret user input and route to content that was written by a human to lessen the risk associated with unwanted or unexpected behaviors by the chatbot.

Regardless of their functionality, many of these chatbots were designed to make mental healthcare more accessible by using evidence-based therapeutic interventions to give you insights into your behavioral health.

2. Voice biomarkers

According to a study published in JMIR Mental Health, it’s possible to classify someone’s mental state, especially as it relates to suicide risk, by biomarkers in their tone of voice using machine learning. Some therapy applications monitor your vocal intonations for this reason. You speak to the app, which assesses your voice for signs of depression and anxiety, helping you to track your progress over time.

The Sonde Mental Fitness app by Sonde Health would fall into this category. It assesses your mental fitness based on a short speech sample and gives you scores in response to different aspects of your tone, such as its smoothness, control, and liveliness.

3. Digital phenotyping

If you’re comfortable with an application monitoring your mobile phone data, consider digital phenotyping apps. These services track your cell phone usage, geolocation data, and social media channels for indications you’re complying with treatment plans, experiencing improvements in your mental state, or suffering a setback. Artificial intelligence is used to analyze the large amount of data collected and identify patterns in your behavior.

This might feel uncomfortable to some people. If that’s the case for you, that’s totally fine. It’s just one option available to you out of many.

The effectiveness of these AI tools is still not clear and requires more research. According to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, there are also privacy concerns, so if you decide to sign up, read the end-user agreement carefully and stay updated on changes to privacy policies. 

4. Diagnostic games

If you love a digital distraction, try using a mobile gaming app to monitor your mental health. According to an article published in JMIR Serious Games, gaming has long been used as a tool to support therapy. Some simple online games claim to monitor the symptoms of depression and other mental health challenges and update your psychologist or psychiatrist of any changes.

One well-regarded online mental health game is SPARX, which is a tested method of e-therapy to help with feelings of moderate depression and anxiety for youth. The game uses artificial intelligence to analyze player behavior and adjust the game accordingly.

5. Digital journaling

According to a systematic review published in Family Medicine and Community Health, journaling is a common non-pharmacological treatment for various mental health challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. You may prefer using a digital diary, either on its own or as part of an AI therapy app, to writing in a daily journal to keep tabs on your experience and improvement.

A few AI-powered digital journaling apps you can try include Mindsera, Reflectly, and Reflectr.

Pros and cons of AI therapy

As with any emerging technology, AI therapy still has challenges to work through. Here are some of the pros and cons of this therapy type:

Benefits of using AI in mental health care

A few pros of AI therapy include the following:

• Shorter wait times for treatment: A study by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing found that 38% of Americans had to wait more than a week to receive mental health treatment. The same study stated that 25% had to choose between receiving therapy and meeting daily financial obligations. Additionally, according to the American Psychological Association, wait times are expected to continue increasing. Therapy apps address this issue by providing accessible and affordable mental health services 24/7.
• Anonymous, stigma-free option: Unfortunately, mental health issues and therapy often carry social stigma, making people reluctant to seek help from a therapist. Some people may feel more comfortable accessing care anonymously via an application to protect their privacy.
• Treatment tracking: When combined with in-person therapy, in-app interactions can track engagement and improvements outside of your sessions, giving your therapist a clearer picture of your treatment’s efficacy. This functionality allows them to refine your diagnosis, fine-tune your therapy, or transfer you to a better-suited provider.
• Optimized session productivity: When AI tools for therapists analyze in-person therapy sessions, they can track a productive conversation versus chit-chat. This gives insight into the provider’s practice, pinpoints areas for improvement, and drives consistency in therapeutic efforts. This information can be used to train new psychotherapists, ensuring quality of care while they develop their skills.

Drawbacks of using AI in mental health care

A few cons of AI therapy include the following:

• Unintended harm: The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) recently disabled its AI chatbot after discovering it gave potentially damaging dieting advice to at-risk teens. This event highlights the potential for AI systems to offer erroneous and harmful advice to vulnerable populations. AI tools can only process information and draw conclusions. Their algorithms don’t allow for leaps of logic or intuitive decisions the way a trained therapist would.
• Overreliance: Patients might come to overly rely on AI chatbots to make simple, day-to-day decisions instead of developing the skills they need to live autonomously.
• Lack of human emotion: As impressive as AI technology is, its services are only as good as the programmers creating the scripted responses. Chatbots can’t truly understand or empathize with human emotions like anxiety, and users may find this off-putting. They may even completely turn away from mental health interventions like seeing a therapist because of it.
• Privacy concerns: Anytime you divulge personal information online, you risk your data falling into the wrong hands. This is also true when using mental health apps. Aside from a data breach, HIPAA protections might not cover the app, so check this before downloading and providing any personal details. 

Challenges of AI therapy tools

Despite benefits like accessibility and affordability, using AI for mental health care still causes some challenges. Here are a few problems you might run into when using artificial intelligence for emotional support:

• Data misinterpretation: AI tools may misinterpret data, which can lead to inappropriate suggestions or treatments for your circumstances.
• Response inequity: AI systems don’t understand the diverse experiences and needs of people across all cultures and may provide culturally inappropriate responses.
• Lack of regulation: AI chatbots don’t have to pass licensing tests, register with the state, and get degrees the way human therapists do, so any medical diagnoses or treatment recommendations they offer should be considered with this in mind.
• Experimental technology: Generative AI is experimental and continuously being tested across all aspects of society, and there’s still a lot to learn about its capabilities and applications.
• Mismanagement of crisis situations: Popular apps such as Woebot warn users that their tools should not be used for crisis interventions, but people may miss these warnings and have expectations for immediate emergency help.
• Unclear legal liability: There are still thorny issues regarding who’s responsible if the technology goes wrong and causes harm. It’s important to take the terms and conditions documents seriously by reading them in their entirety, and it’s a red flag if there aren’t any legal terms presented.

Supplement AI therapy with personalized coaching

While AI therapy has limitations, such as an inability to fully understand complex emotions or trauma, it can offer benefits like round-the-clock availability, affordability, and increased access to mental health resources for those unable or hesitant to seek in-person therapy.

While AI tools are intriguing developments in the psychotherapy world, AI therapy isn’t meant to replace human therapists. A valuable part of in-person psychotherapy is human understanding based on lived experience. That said, therapy apps can be a valuable tool to supplement other mental health or therapeutic services. 

If you aren’t quite ready for therapy but could use some personalized guidance to work toward a healthier you, consider working with a coach. Coaches can help improve your relationships, communication, overall wellness, and professional life. They can also help you reach your full potential by achieving outcomes you never thought possible.

Unlock personal growth and happiness by working with a BetterUp Coach to become the best version of yourself.