{"id":849531,"date":"2025-05-19T19:12:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T00:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/19\/ai-chatbot-therabot-shows-promise-for-treating-anxiety-and-depression-but-safety-remains-key-concern\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T19:12:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T00:12:02","slug":"ai-chatbot-therabot-shows-promise-for-treating-anxiety-and-depression-but-safety-remains-key-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/19\/ai-chatbot-therabot-shows-promise-for-treating-anxiety-and-depression-but-safety-remains-key-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"AI chatbot Therabot shows promise for treating anxiety and depression, but safety remains key concern"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Calling <\/picture><\/div>\n

Calling your therapist at 2am would not be pragmatic, but a therapy chatbot is available 24\/7. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Planning your holiday getaway? Invest RM100 with Versa<\/a> & grab RM10 FREE<\/strong> to kickstart your travel fund. Use VERSAMM10<\/strong> now!<\/p>\n

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Sunday, 04 May 2025 9:00 PM MYT<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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NEW YORK, May 4 \u2014 Researchers at Dartmouth College believe artificial intelligence can deliver reliable psychotherapy, distinguishing their work from the unproven and sometimes dubious mental health apps flooding today\u2019s market.<\/p>\n

Their application, Therabot, addresses the critical shortage of mental health professionals.<\/p>\n

According to Nick Jacobson, an assistant professor of data science and psychiatry at Dartmouth, even multiplying the current number of therapists tenfold would leave too few to meet demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need something different to meet this large need,\u201d Jacobson told AFP.<\/p>\n

The Dartmouth team recently published a clinical study demonstrating Therabot\u2019s effectiveness in helping people with anxiety, depression and eating disorders.<\/p>\n

A new trial is planned to compare Therabot\u2019s results with conventional therapies.<\/p>\n

The medical establishment appears receptive to such innovation.<\/p>\n

Vaile Wright, senior director of health care innovation at the American Psychological Association (APA), described \u201ca future where you will have an AI-generated chatbot rooted in science that is co-created by experts and developed for the purpose of addressing mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright noted these applications \u201chave a lot of promise, particularly if they are done responsibly and ethically,\u201d though she expressed concerns about potential harm to younger users.<\/p>\n

Jacobson\u2019s team has so far dedicated close to six years to developing Therabot, with safety and effectiveness as primary goals.<\/p>\n

Michael Heinz, psychiatrist and project co-leader, believes rushing for profit would compromise safety.<\/p>\n

The Dartmouth team is prioritizing understanding how their digital therapist works and establishing trust.<\/p>\n

They are also contemplating the creation of a nonprofit entity linked to Therabot to make digital therapy accessible to those who cannot afford conventional in-person help.<\/p>\n

Care or cash? <\/strong><\/p>\n

With the cautious approach of its developers, Therabot could potentially be a standout in a marketplace of untested apps that claim to address loneliness, sadness and other issues.<\/p>\n

According to Wright, many apps appear designed more to capture attention and generate revenue than improve mental health.<\/p>\n

Such models keep people engaged by telling them what they want to hear, but young users often lack the savvy to realize they are being manipulated.<\/p>\n

Darlene King, chair of the American Psychiatric Association\u2019s committee on mental health technology, acknowledged AI\u2019s potential for addressing mental health challenges but emphasizes the need for more information before determining true benefits and risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still a lot of questions,\u201d King noted.<\/p>\n

To minimize unexpected outcomes, the Therabot team went beyond mining therapy transcripts and training videos to fuel its AI app by manually creating simulated patient-caregiver conversations.<\/p>\n

While the US Food and Drug Administration theoretically is responsible for regulating online mental health treatment, it does not certify medical devices or AI apps.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u201cthe FDA may authorize their marketing after reviewing the appropriate pre-market submission,\u201d according to an agency spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The FDA acknowledged that \u201cdigital mental health therapies have the potential to improve patient access to behavioral therapies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therapist always in <\/strong><\/p>\n

Herbert Bay, CEO of Earkick, defends his startup\u2019s AI therapist Panda as \u201csuper safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bay says Earkick is conducting a clinical study of its digital therapist, which detects emotional crisis signs or suicidal ideation and sends help alerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened with Character.AI couldn\u2019t happen with us,\u201d said Bay, referring to a Florida case in which a mother claims a chatbot relationship contributed to her 14-year-old son\u2019s death by suicide.<\/p>\n

AI, for now, is suited more for day-to-day mental health support than life-shaking breakdowns, according to Bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalling your therapist at two in the morning is just not possible,\u201d but a therapy chatbot remains always available, Bay noted.<\/p>\n

One user named Darren, who declined to provide his last name, found ChatGPT helpful in managing his traumatic stress disorder, despite the OpenAI assistant not being designed specifically for mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it\u2019s working for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would recommend it to people who suffer from anxiety and are in distress.\u201d \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Malay Mail
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calling your therapist at 2am would not be pragmatic, but a therapy chatbot is available 24\/7. \u2014 AFP pic Planning your holiday getaway? Invest RM100 with Versa & grab RM10 FREE to kickstart your travel fund. Use VERSAMM10 now! Sunday, 04 May 2025 9:00 PM MYT NEW YORK, May 4 \u2014 Researchers at Dartmouth College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":849532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36170,144015],"tags":[111692,144014],"class_list":{"0":"post-849531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chatbot","8":"category-therabot","9":"tag-chatbot","10":"tag-therabot"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}