Are you curious about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the field of psychotherapy? Lea, the head of psychology at clare&me, just published a chapter on AI and psychotherapy as a part of a book by the esteemed publishing house De Gruyter. While the full text is currently available as open access in German, we've gathered the key insights to share with you in English.

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The book explores the topic of digitalization and artificial intelligence and its influence on traditional psychotherapy by featuring authors from different fields, such as clinicians and psychotherapists, as well as ethics, philosophy, and patients.  

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“If we want to harness the potential of bots in healthcare or psychotherapy, content moderation, regulatory procedures, and quality seals are needed to protect patients.” (pp. 122)

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Lea’s chapter delves into both the potential and already existing integrations of AI in psychotherapeutic processes and highlights how AI-based chatbots are now emerging as tools to promote mental health. There is still quite a bit of controversy surrounding the use of AI in psychotherapy, revolving around the question of the future role of bots in psychotherapy. Will they be helpful administrative tools, or will they eventually automate psychotherapy? Beyond these questions, the rapid advancement of AI chatbots raises further concerns about the impact of ‘synthetic relationships’: What effects will these human-machine interactions have on our interpersonal relationships? As we become more used to on-demand, AI-powered therapeutic support, will we become less patient with intricate human interactions?

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To illustrate her points, Lea draws on the case of Clare to show how AI can automate therapeutic interventions. Clare enables users to engage via calls or WhatsApp, fostering self-reflection through guided prompts and exercises. Clare can alleviate feelings of loneliness and anxiety. However, there are still concerns about new technologies and their negative impacts and risks, which are also addressed and critically discussed in this chapter, such as the potential issues of dependency and manipulation. 

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Bots could reshape therapy by offering constant support and breaking down traditional barriers to therapy. However, they also prompt important discussions about ensuring that bots adhere to essential therapeutic values such as respect, empathy and confidentiality.

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While chatbots can enhance support for individuals waiting for therapy, they should not replace traditional human interactions. Instead, they can serve as valuable tools for diagnostics and emotional regulation, fostering open communication and connection. 

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Overall, the article highlights the potential of bots in a self-help context, such as making a therapeutic process and conversation more engaging and dynamic and, as a result, more effective. However, Lea also underlines the importance of responsible and ethical considerations in the process of AI integration into psychotherapy. To ensure safety and efficacy, mental health bots need to be guided by therapeutic standards and supervised during testing phases, as done at clare&me. 

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At clare&me, we recognize that besides the great value of AI in psychotherapy, responsible AI development and clinical LLM fine-tuning are essential. Thus, a responsible road to technology development must be taken to allow for a helpful and secure fine-tuning of LLMs and integration of AI into a clinical context and psychotherapy. If you want to learn more about our theoretical values or ethical and safety guidelines that we follow at clare&me, do not hesitate to reach out. 

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te Wildt, B., Lauer, G. & Schmidt, R. (2024). Was machen Digitalisierung und Künstliche Intelligenz mit der Psychotherapie?: Einwürfe und Provokationen. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111509341

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