The Future of Talk Therapy
Mental health is a huge problem in the US. About a fifth of the population experienced mental illness, around fifty million people. That is a lot of human suffering. There are also side effects of mental illness. It can be a contributor to crime and extreme politics. What’s wrong? Why can’t we figure this out?
Too often, people just aren’t getting the help they need. There are not nearly enough mental health providers for all the people who need help. According to The State of Mental Health in America report from Mental Health America, “in the U.S., there are an estimated 350 individuals for every one mental health provider.” The same report says that “over half (54.7%) of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment, totaling over 28 million individuals.” Further, “almost a third (28.2%) of all adults with a mental illness reported that they were not able to receive the treatment they needed. 42% of adults with AMI reported they were unable to receive necessary care because they could not afford it.”
Not only can care be in short supply and expensive, it can also be inconvenient to access, since it often comes in the form of appointments at certain times and places, though increasingly services are provided remotely.
New ways of delivering care are needed. A promising area is using AI (artificial intelligence) to deliver therapy more cheaply and conveniently. Artificially intelligent therapy chatbots have begun to be used broadly. Chatbots tends to be free or cheap, easily accessible, non-judgmental, and non-intimidating. Opening an app on a phone is a lower barrier than walking into a psychiatrist or therapist’s office in the town you live in. They get some surprisingly good reviews from users. Mimicking a talk therapist seems like a natural fit for AI, since it is good at suggesting text to respond to an input and learning from feedback.
Two of the most painful issues for Americans are mass shootings and political polarization. Poor mental health contributes to both problems, so we could have healthier individuals and a healthier society if we could improve mental health services. Working with a person is always going to be expensive, and talk therapy is always going to be needed, so chatbots are an exciting new possibility.