Shortage of healthcare manpower is a common issue faced by many societies, including mental health professionals. It affects the access to relevant services and taxes on the cost for utilization as a result. Digital mental health applications are therefore a viable option to consider. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver psychotherapy has considerable potential for behavioural counselling and the promotion of emotional well-being. Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago conducted a pilot trial of a virtual voice-based coach delivering problem-solving treatment to adults with mild-to-moderate depression and/or anxiety. Participants were 2:1 randomly assigned to receive immediate intervention or be put on waitlist as control for 16 weeks. The main outcomes included changes in neural measures of emotional reactivity and cognitive control, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) symptom scores. At the end of trial, meaningful decrease in activation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for cognitive control, in the intervention group while the control group had an increase. On top of that, HADS depression, anxiety, and overall psychological distress scores also demonstrated a medium decrease as compared to the waitlist control group. The promising results from this study may provide a good foundation for further exploration on the effectiveness and utilization of novel digital mental health intervention with the use of AI technology.

Reference:

Kannampallil T, et al. Transl Psychiatry. 2023 May 12;13(1):166.