Despite naysayers like myself who doubt more than appreciate Artificial Intelligence (AI), this new technology has ventured into areas that can really make a positive difference in our lives.
Ironically, along with the advent of technology into our lives in some ways, we have become more distant and removed from social connections and real relationships. The excessive use of technology leads to loss of sleep, exhaustion, and distraction, which can play a part in depression. Whether it is this, personal issues, genetics or age, depression has insidiously made its presence felt amongst a great many people today.
Perhaps it is the fact that we are also less judgmental and more open about mental health issues now, and so people are more apt to seek help if they face mental health issues. Nevertheless, depression is a serious issue that has pervaded our lives. Harvard Medical School says 60 to 90% of adult patients grapple with serious depression.
AI has presented itself as a tool that can help combat depression, and the medical community will be happy to have the extra help, I am sure.
And the doctor prescribes…AI
How it works is that AI can offer personalized treatment plans for those suffering from depression. After having collected the relevant data and information through interaction and conversations between therapists and patients, the technology can tailor-make treatments based on the behavior patterns it discovers. This makes the treatment more effective and timelier.
Also helpful is that AI can identify possible relapses before they occur and suggest preventative action. This too, can speed up the recovery time of patients and help avoid serious situations such as suicide.
Furthermore, AI technology has also become useful in recommending lifestyle changes and medication that will aid those at risk of suffering from depression to prevent the descent into such a situation.
Therapy pets? No, therapy bots!
If you’re feeling low and need someone to talk to, therapy bots will be at your service. These bots will be the friends that you need, except that they can also provide you with good advice
that can mitigate small issues and act as a bridge between you and a professional human therapist. This means that the therapy bots will not actually replace human therapists, but will offer a support service in the interim.
These therapy bots will also provide the service of reminding patients to take their depression medication and keep their appointment times, in addition to tracking patient progress and mood changes.
Wearable AI to overcome depression
According to research published by Abd-Alrazaq A, AlSaad R, Aziz S, Ahmed A, Denecke K, Househ M, Farooq F, Sheikh J. titled, ‘Wearable Artificial Intelligence for Anxiety and Depression: Scoping Review, wearable electronic devices such as smartwatches, smart glasses and smart bracelets can now help gather data from patients that will be instrumental in diagnosing mental illnesses and providing treatment. Through variables such as body temperature, blood oxygen, blood pressure, heart rate, and so on, patients suffering from anxiety and depression can be monitored in real-time and their treatments prescribed and adjusted as necessary.
However, Rosalind Picard, founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and principal investigator at MIT’s Jameel Clinic says this approach too, has its limitations. Picard notes that these wearable AI devices, while effective in forecasting depression through their data, will not be as straightforward in offering ways in which depression can be combated. Other issues that need to be ironed out in using wearable AI devices include coming up with frameworks for analyzing the gathered data, demarcating ethical standards and applying evidence-based AI development.
Too good to be true?
Perhaps. While Artificial Intelligence can offer a great deal of benefits to people suffering from depression, it cannot provide comprehensive solutions to patients. Simply because AI is a technology and is not human it cannot think for itself and therefore, cannot operate beyond the given parameters. In addition, since it cannot think like human beings, AI will also not be able to pick up on sensitive shades of meaning in conversations between patients and therapists enough to diagnose more serious mental health problems.
However, Forbes references David Liu, the CEO of Sonde Health has discussed a process called ‘audio signal processing’ that identifies the various distinctive characteristics evident in a small voice recording of a patient’s voice pitch, energy, rhythm and tonal quality.
Liu notes that the changes that occur in a person’s voice happen due to differences in their body and health conditions. The data derived from studying such small changes will enable experts to link vocal features to symptoms of certain diseases. Through such studies of thousands of people who have various health conditions, AI algorithms can be designed to spot vocal patterns common to such patients.
Obtaining high-quality voice data still proves to be a challenge, yet there are measures in the pipeline to attain the required voice samples via enhanced technology. All this is a work in progress, and we have something to look forward to in the field of AI and medicine.
The human touch
Dealing with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation requires understanding and empathy. We cannot expect a machine or technology to provide something so abstract and human-centric. Fortunately, human beings are still very much emotional and empathetic beings and the human touch is still the main requirement for helping people combat negative feelings in mental health medicine.
Thus, while AI will be a great supplementary help in dealing with mental health issues, it cannot truly take over the important work carried out by doctors, therapists and mental health professionals. And for that, I am truly grateful.
(Anouk De Silva)