It is not possible in my opinion. I dont mean technically, therapist robots must not be too difficult to make, hovewer who wants to be a patient of them?The essence of psyhotherapy is a human to human interaction, not to AI to human!

I really hope from the bottom of my heart that artificial intelligence is not going to contribute AT ALL

It is not possible in my opinion. I dont mean technically, therapist robots must not be too difficult to make, hovewer who wants to be a patient of them?The essence of psyhotherapy is a human to human interaction, not to AI to human!

The essence of humans is to be wrong.

The recent rise in psychiatry of 'measurement-based care' is based on the finding that psychiatrists are really poor at assessing the person's mental state. 40% of patients who failed to respond to treatment or who were getting worse were missed by psychiatrists.

I have no reason to doubt that a lot of psychotherapy is just as bad. Personal opinion masquerading as theory driving a process for which there is no evidence. I have to make honourable exception for therapies like CBT in which routine use of rating scales as case formulation and process evaluation is part of the process.

The application of technology can be a valuable aid where human fallibility is an issue. However, the most damaging aspect of human fallibility is our belief in our infallibility. I have been interested in the reactions of psychiatrists to the idea of measurement-based care. It's calling into question our clinical judgement! they say to me. I point out to them that no-one would manage hypertension by asking the patient a few sensitive questions, so why do we manage mental health using such fallible methods. Their defensive responses, however, persuades me that they know that they have something to hide…

Ronán,

" Their defensive responses, however, persuades me that they know that they have something to hide…" not to hide but they know how mentally unique each person is. I want to remind you that those who founded CBT came from the long and painful psychoanalysis and that these two ways of thinking differ in their depth you reach in a person's psyche, CBT and psychoanalysis, are rooted in very different ways of thinking. CBT is focused only on the symptoms, psychoanalysis is not at all focused on symptoms, when symptoms fall off it is a bi-product of the profound change a person undergoes. The only thing you can say as long as you have not been in both methods is that they differ in purpose and time frame.

s. Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist – your experience of psychiatrists and mine are clearly different! I regularly do psychiatry journal clubs and am impressed at how little psychiatrists know of phenomenology, and how little the know of anything other than pharmacotherapy. CBT is at least based on case formulation, in which the client and therapist agree on goals which they monitor using standardised assessment tools. By comparison, even with best practice (say, using the Maudsley Guidelines) pharmacotherapy for depression reduces uniqueness to a half-page flowchart of medication options.

And while psychoanalysis claims to deeper than symptoms, it rests on particular assumptions about what constitutes personhood that are at least debatable, and certainly not evidence-based in the sense of making falsifiable claims. The sense in which psychoanalysis goes deeper than CBT is, I fear, just deeper into your wallet!

Declaration of interest : I was associated, many years ago, with the École Freudienne de Paris.

RonánMichaelConroy

The goal of psychoanalysis is to find the "psychological process" of illness,which I define as the "psychological program".Around this purpose,the theoretical basis for analysis can be based on various theories,such as the ranking of brothers,the need for hierarchy in Masno,and so on.

Freud's theory is only one of the theories of analysis,only one of the explanations of the principle of human psychological operation,and there is still a big mistake.Psychoanalysis should not be used only in Freud's theory.

So,I think,psychotherapy can't just use Freud's theory ,as long as the theory of the patient's psychological program can be found.

Currently I am working in this field which is based on Damatio's theory!

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Seyed_Sahand_Mohammadi_Ziabari

Hi there,

This discussion has two main faulty assumptions: First one is psychoanalysis vs CBT, as if there is no other psychotherapy approach. I personally, dont have sympathy for psychoanalysis, it is a very exlusive approach, too expensive and too long. On the other hand CBT does not work with many other clients; it is very strict and "dry". There are other highly popular approaches like expressive therapies, existential psychotherapy and mindfullnes.

The second faulty assumption is psychiatrists and psychotherapy. Excluding the exceptions, psychiatrists are not educated to do psychotherapy, their main tool is pharmacotherapy. Psychologists are psychotherapists, well educated for years with supervisions etc. So, please do not compare apples to pears.

Best

Ronán,

I KNOW what I am talking about:) . Do you remember our discussion about female genital mutilation. Look at the Nobel prize winners this year.

Dear Taha,

Your question reminded me of a computer programme that fascinated many of us at the very beginning of the personal computer age: You may want to look at Joseph Weizenbaum's ELIZA, the hype it created for some and Weizenbaum's book:

Article Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation

Best wishes,

Immo

Good suggestions at all

My knowledge on psychology being only theoretical, but on AI practical, I think the following will take place:

-first wave will be of "pre-professional" helper type of applications. virtual environment will also play its role e.g. stressful situations simulations for fire fighters

-positive psychology (coaching) lends itself to be translated into virtual friends and well being advisers. Virtual friends have commercial value for big social platforms to further bind people to the platform- plenty of money to make this happen

-behavioural psychology may be easier to tackle since we can collect a lot of human behaviour patterns and steer human towards behaviour that is beneficial. This may start of like a spinn-off projects like Chinese social credit scoring. Imagine a "virtual perfect exemplary citizen" that promotes happy life in harmony with the current reality.

-psychiatry I think can benefit from better dosing of drugs or custom made drugs devised by AI driven pharma companies.

ogolchsy-ppositive

Hi,

Following links can help you.

• http://www.publicseminar.org/2018/04/will-artificial-intelligence-revolutionize-psychotherapy/
• https://medium.com/one-future/ai-and-the-future-of-psychotherapy-d0593b827a44
• https://www.verywellmind.com/using-artificial-intelligence-for-mental-health-4144239
• https://ct.counseling.org/2018/01/counseling-artificial-intelligence/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454064/
• https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-future-of-computerized-therapy/
• https://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/7-startups-aimed-at-mental-health-2018.html
• http://www.chicagoaidays.com/sites/default/files/Artificial%20Intelligence%20in%20Mental%20and%20Behavioral%20Health%20-%20Alexander%20Fullam.pdf
• https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/artificial-intelligence-psychology
• https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/computers-and-thought
• http://cognet.mit.edu/

s. Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist Of course you know what you are talking about. I am surprised you had to say so. I'm a little puzzled about how female circumcision and the troubled Nobel Prize committee have ended up in a discussion about artificial intelligence – have I missed something?

Denis Mukwege actually got the Peace prize , I suppose the discussion about female circumcision and violence against females which was sent in Swedish TV contributed to the prize (not scientifically evidenced). In Sweden they are now discussing male circumcision for non-medical reasons. My "free associations" are perhaps a bit rapid. Nevertheless, these problems could not be solved with artificial intelligence as I understand it (which does not necessary apply to your way of thinking). Sorry.