Using Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Ongoing Psychological Interventions for Emotional Problems in Real- or Close...

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Computer Science
• Mental Health

Background:

• Emotional disorders are prevalent globally, with psychotherapy being a common treatment.
• A significant portion of patients (up to 40%) do not fully respond to traditional psychotherapy.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) presents a potential avenue to personalize and improve psychotherapy outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the evidence on AI-based methods for enhancing psychological interventions in real-time.
• To assess the impact of AI on patient response and treatment outcomes in psychotherapy.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across major electronic databases (Scopus, Pubmed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library).
• Search terms included variations of "psychotherapy", "artificial intelligence", and "emotional disorders".
• Eligibility criteria were applied to select relevant studies from the initial search results.

Main Results:

• Only 10 studies met the eligibility criteria out of 85 assessed full texts.
• Conversational AI agents (chatbots) were the most frequently employed AI technique.
• AI implementation demonstrated significant positive effects on psychotherapy outcomes and reduced clinical symptomatology.
• High rates of patient satisfaction, engagement, and retention were reported in most studies.

Conclusions:

• AI-based methods show promise in enhancing psychotherapy for emotional disorders.
• Real-time AI recommendations can potentially lead to more tailored and effective treatments.
• Further methodologically rigorous studies are necessary to fully establish the efficacy and integration of AI in psychotherapy.