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How Artificial Intelligence Affects Mental Health

Britany Navarro-Martinez

Northern Oklahoma College

ENGL1113-007: English Composition I

Professor Nordquist

November 8, 2023
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How Artificial Intelligence Affects Mental Health

Artificial Intelligence can potentially transform mental health services and offer a range

of benefits that can positively impact individuals seeking help. Often people don’t get the help

they need because of fears of judgement or embarrassment. Artificial Intelligence gives them a

way to live out of that fear while taking care of their mental well-being. Plus, they get the

treatment personalized for them. Artificial intelligence can find patterns in someone that humans

might not be able to see. There are so many benefits of having Artificial Intelligence involved in

the mental health world. Artificial Intelligence can be beneficial in the services of mental health

because AI-powered chatbots can provide immediate support and resources, analyze large

amounts of data to identify patterns and provide personalized treatment recommendations, and

help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health by providing anonymous and non-judgmental

platforms for seeking support.

AI-powered chatbots can provide immediate support and resources. People can struggle

any time of day and sometimes you can call for help because that person might be busy. Chatbots

make it so much easier to get the help they need 24/7. Merriam-Webster states that a chatbot is a

bot that is designed to converse with human beings. These chatbots can engage in conversations,

providing a platform for people to express their feelings and concerns and coping strategies in

real-time. “It’s thus no surprise that so many people (68%) said they would rather talk to a robot

about their mental health issues than to their managers.” (Schawbel 2020) Chatbots can make

getting help more reachable and make therapy less expensive.

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Artificial intelligence can analyze large amounts of data to identify patterns and provide

personalized treatment recommendations. “Technology-based treatment, such as mobile apps,

can overcome most of these barriers and engage hard-to-reach populations.” (Rababeh 2020)

This can help so much when artificial intelligence can identify patterns a normal human being

cannot spot. They can analyze large amounts of data to provide the tools for mental health

professionals to treat a patient. “From there, the technology can guide you to the best resources

for support, such as providing tips for reducing stress, best practices for battling anxiety, or even

referring you to a professional if needed.” (Schawbel 2020) The data collection can enhance the

accuracy of diagnosis, inform about treatment strategies, and predict the progress of mental

health disorders.

Artificial Intelligence helps reduce the stigma surrounding mental health by providing

anonymous and non-judgmental platforms for seeking support. Day-to-day, people live in fear of

getting help. Fear of seeming weak that they can’t handle their own problems. Chatbots can keep

things anonymous so anyone can talk about anything freely. In a study by Schawbel (2020), 64%

of people knew that chatbots represent a judgment-free place to talk freely about anything and

not be shown as weak to their colleagues. Users can engage in candid conversations without

worrying about societal prejudice or the risk of their personal information being shared. This

encourages others to reach out for the help they need, ultimately contributing to the

destigmatizing of mental health.

Artificial intelligence offers valuable support but there are a few downsides to think

about. One of the concerns is the potential for overreliance on artificial intelligence, which may

lead to a dehumanization of mental health care. Although chatbots offer a non-judgmental

service, they may not fully replace the empathy of another human being or the understanding,
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which is essential in mental health support. In a study done by Koko (2023), they offered

counseling to 4, 00 people without telling them the help was coming from ChatGPT. Reports

stated that getting therapy from generative language models led to multiple harms such as

suicide. Additionally, the risk of your private health information being breached which could

lead to legal issues. “In 2020, The New York Times reported that Talkspace executives read

excerpts from therapy sessions during a company meeting without maintaining anonymity for the

patient, who was an employee of the organization.: (Abrams 2021) Finally, the ethical question

comes into play, should artificial intelligence be able to make decisions for us?

The fusing of Artificial intelligence and mental health can bring significant benefits. AI-

powered chatbots offer support around the clock. They can give valuable information for the

user’s needs to help manage their mental well-being. The ability that artificial intelligence to

gather data, notice patterns others can't see, and give the person treatment recommendations.

This could also help end the stigma around mental health. People can get the help they want

anonymously without fear of being uncomfortable or getting social repercussions. Artificial

intelligence has many benefits but there are downsides too. It lacks the human empathy that

people need and can cause an over-dependence on technology for help. Artificial intelligence

also could collect your data so there wouldn’t be any privacy for your personal information.

Ethical consideration that should Artificial intelligence be making choices for you is an

important one. Only you really know what’s best for you.
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Resources

Schawbel, D. (2020, November 4). Robots and Chatbots can help alleviate the mental health

epidemic. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/mental-health-

technology-robots-chatbots/

Abrams, Z. (2021, November 1). The promise and challenges of ai. Monitor on Psychology.

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/11/cover-artificial-intelligence?clearcache=true

Abrams, Z. (2023, July 1). Ai is changing every aspect of psychology. here’s what to watch for.

Monitor on Psychology. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/07/psychology-embracing-ai

Rababeh, A., Alajlani, M., Bewick, B. M., & Househ, M. (2020, July 13). Effectiveness and

safety of using chatbots to improve mental health: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal

of medical Internet research. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7385637/