AI Therapists Are Here: 14 Groundbreaking Mental Health Tools You Need To Know
There are many fields where generative AI is proving to have truly transformative potential, and some of the most interesting use cases are around mental health and wellbeing.
While it can't provide the human connection and intuition of a trained therapist, research has shown that many people are comfortable sharing their worries and concerns with relatively faceless and anonymous AI bots.
Whether this is always a good idea or not, given the black-box nature of many AI platforms, is up for debate. But it's becoming clear that in specific use cases, AI has a role to play in guiding, advising and understanding us.
So here I will look at some of the most interesting and innovative generative AI tools that are reshaping the way we think about mental health and wellbeing today.
Headspace
Headspace is a hugely popular app that provides calming mindfulness and guided meditation sessions. Recently, it's expanded to become a full digital mental healthcare platform, including access to therapists and psychiatric services, as well as generative AI tools.
Their first tool is Ebb, designed to take users on reflective meditation experiences. Headspace focused heavily on the ethical implications of introducing AI to mental healthcare scenarios when creating the tool. This is all part of their mission to make digital mindfulness and wellness accessible to as many people as possible through dynamic content and interactive experiences.
Wysa
This is another very popular tool that's widely used by corporate customers to provide digital mental health services to employees, but of course, anyone can use it. Its AI chatbot provides anonymous support and is trained in cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness and dialectical behavioral therapy and mindfulness. Wysa's AI is built from the ground up by psychologists and tailored to work as part of a structured package of support, which includes interventions from human wellbeing professionals. Another standout is the selection of features tailored to helping young people. Wysa is one of the few mental health and wellbeing AI platforms that holds the distinction of being validated clinically in peer-reviewed studies.
Youper
This platform is billed as an emotional health assistant and uses generative AI to deliver conversational, personalized support. It blends natural language chatbot functionality with clinically validated methods including CBT. According to its website, its effectiveness at treating six mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression, has been confirmed by Stanford University researchers, and users can expect benefits in as little as two weeks.
Mindsera
This is an AI-powered journaling app designed to help users manage their mental health by providing insights and emotional analytics based on their writing. It provides users with a number of journaling frameworks as well as guidance from AI personas in the guise of historical figures. It aims to help users get to the bottom of the emotional drivers behind their thought processes and explore these through the process of writing and structuring their thoughts. Chatbot functionality means that journaling becomes a two-way process, with the AI guiding the user towards different pathways for exploring their mental wellbeing, depending on how and what they write about. Mindsera can even create images and artwork based on users' journaling, to give new perspectives on their mental health and wellbeing.
Woebot
Woebot is a 'mental health' ally chatbot that helps users deal with symptoms of depression and anxiety. It aims to build a long-term, ongoing relationship through regular chats, listening and asking questions in the same way as a human therapist. Woebot mixes natural-language-generated questions and advice with crafted content and therapy created by clinical psychologists. It is also trained to detect 'concerning' language from users and immediately provides information about external sources where emergency help or interventions may be available. Woebot seems to be available only to Apple device users.
The choice of tools and platforms dedicated to mental health and wellbeing is growing all the time. Here are some of the other top choices out there:
Calm
Alongside Headspace (see above), Calm is one of the leading meditation and sleep apps. It now uses generative AI to provide personalized recommendations.
Character.ai
Although this is not a dedicated mental health app, therapists and psychologists are among the AI characters this platform offers, and both are available free of charge 24/7.
EmoBay
Your 'psychosocial bestie', offering emotional support with daily check-ins and journaling.
HeyWellness
This platform includes a number of wellness apps, including HeyZen, designed to help with mindfulness and calm.
Joy
Joy is an AI virtual companion that delivers help and support via WhatsApp chat.
Kintsugi
Takes the innovative approach of analyzing voice data and journals to provide stress and mental health support.
Life Planner
This is an all-in-one AI planning and scheduling tool that includes functions for tracking habits and behaviors in order to develop healthy and mindful routines.
Manifest
This app bills itself as 'Shazam for your feelings' and is designed with young people in mind.
Reflection
Guided journaling app that leverages AI for personalized guidance and insights.
Resonance
AI-powered journaling tool developed by MIT, which is designed to work with users' memories to suggest future paths and activities.
Talking therapies like CBT have long been understood to be effective methods of looking after our mental health, and AI chatbots offer a combination of accessibility and anonymity. As AI becomes more capable and deeply interwoven with our lives, I predict many more will explore its potential in this field. Of course, it won't replace the need for trained human therapists any time soon. However, AI will become another tool in their box that they can use to help patients take control of their mental wellbeing.
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