Is Artificial Intelligence an option in mental healthcare?

By : Iyanthie De Silva

Health is considered wealth. Having a sound mental health can be considered beyond wealth. As the saying goes, “lose your way, but never your mind”. It is indeed the truth. However, with the increasing cost of living, work stress and complexity among families and society, it is observed that many people suffer mental health conditions at some point in life, even if it may have gone unnoticed. Studies conducted by the university of Maynooth reveals that over 40% of Irish adults suffer from some kind of mental health disorder and one in ten have even attempted suicide. However, many of these individuals are not receiving treatment (Maynooth University, 2022)

A further study conducted by the National College of Ireland and Trinity College, revealed the following statistics (Katie McQuillan a b et al., 2022).

The most common disorders identified were;

• Insomnia, 

• Major Depression Disorder, 

• Anxiety Disorder, 

• Alcohol use Disorder

With Covid-19 hitting the globe, issues with accessibility in mental healthcare facilities harnessed widespread attention. Lockdowns and barriers to treatment disrupted face-to-face care. Which left patients with no medication or therapy required. Also the pandemic itself caused many mental illnesses such as; anxiety, depression, sleeping/eating disorders etc. to people who had once been mentally healthy (Boucher et al., 2021)

As it is clear that various global situations and personal reasons kept patients from seeking and coming forward for treatment. We have reached an era where conventional detection methods of mental health illnesses need to be modified. Clinicians and carers could look at other forms and emerging technologies to monitor behavioural patterns etc. of patients. 

“AI” is a term that most people are familiar with in the present day. However, had it been mentioned 15 years ago, the general public would have been in darkness as to what it can really be. In 2017 IBM stated that artificial intelligence (AI) will re-create the delivery of healthcare in mental health over the coming five years, where it will help institutions and practitioners to monitor, track and predict conditions more effectively (IBM, 2017). 

At present it has been proved that AI holds great promise in transforming the mental health industry (Graham et al., 2019). In a recent report published by the Health Education England where the “Digital future of mental health and its workforce” was explored, it cites the applications of data and how its methods could be put into the use of digitally monitoring patients in order to “provide decision support or prediction”(NHS, 2018). Therefore, it is evident that heath technology driven by data and AI is seen as having a “potential of rapid and radical change in terms of service delivery and development of new treatments” in mental healthcare (Bhugra et al., 2017). 

Stated herewith are a few AI methods that could be used in mental health, electronic health records (EHRs), brain imaging data, mood rating scales, novel monitoring systems with the use of smartphones and video and various social media platforms. The above could be used to classify, predict and sub-group a series of mental illnesses. A few being, suicide ideation and attempts, schizophrenia, depression (Graham et al., 2019).  Most studies conducted in this regard, have shown a high level of accuracy and the benefits and the potentials AI hold in healthcare (Simon, 2012). 

However, just like every new finding, AI too has been faced with criticism and the general public and clinicians have been skeptical about the use of such technologies and concerns have been raised about the power and ethics behind its practices (Price, 2019). Therefore the British government issues a statement that “All data driven technologies must be harnessed in a safe, evidenced and transparent manner, we must engage with patients and the public on how to use it in way that maintains trust” (NHS Code of conduct, 2020)

Also, as the demands for mental health services have skyrocketed, developers have been able to expand the capabilities of AI as well. Instead of limiting AI to a data driven technology in mental health, it has been driven to various other interventions to keep up with the need. Today, AI-based chatbots have been introduced and integrated into the system, in order to support diagnostics, screening, behavioural change and the management of symptoms, these are also referred to as “conversational / relational agents” (Boucher et al., 2021). Even though the history of chatbots runs way back to 1966, when ELIZA the first bot was created, the interest in chatbots and upgrading the software was hyped after 2016 (Almalki & Azeez, 2020). It has been found that in 2019 alone 39% of health chatbots were created and 41 out of that were focused on mental health (Lau et al., 2019). Today many chatbots are designed for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide risk, substance abuse etc. Bots are also being used to enhance positive psychological constructs, such as mindfulness, quality of life, well-being (Hoa and Andersson, 2017).

Therefore, looking at the many researches being conducted and the tremendous growth in AI-based applications in mental health, it is evident that AI could certainly be used in mental health. However, just like any technology, AI too has its drawbacks. As we all are aware, empathy is an essential trait any mental health practitioner, clinician should possess. Therefore one of the main criticisms brought forward is the fact that chatbots cannot feel empathy (Fadhil and Schiavo, 2019). This is a fact which cannot be overlooked, even though psychiatrists do see a potential in AI based mental health tasks, a global survey conducted among psychiatrists revealed that 83% felt that AI would never be a match to empathetic care given by a psychiatrist to a patient (Doraiswamy et al., 2019).

Therefore, even though AI is seen as a ground breaking technology that seems to be overtaking many industries in today's highly digitalized world and holds much potential in the mental health sector as well, there could be certain situations where the human touch and sense could be the cure.

Keywords: Mental Disorder, Mental Illness, Mental Health Services, Mental Health Awareness, AI in Mental Health, Psychological Disorder, Mental Health Clinic

Iyanthie De Silva : 16/02/2023

References

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