3 Ways AI Will Transform Behavioral Healthcare
3 - Personalized and Targeted Treatment Plans
Mental health issues are complex, widely misunderstood, and often misdiagnosed. There are many different factors that can contribute to mental health problems, and each individual is unique in their own way. This makes it difficult to provide one-size-fits-all treatment plans.
However, artificial intelligence is beginning to change this by analyzing large amounts of data and helping to identify patterns and trends that would be difficult for humans to spot alone. This information can be used to develop personalized and targeted treatment plans for mental health patients, especially with comorbidity cases.
Ieso, a London-based company backed by UK's National Health Services, is pioneering a new approach to mental health care in which the language used in therapy sessions is analyzed by AI.
Lyssn, a US-based company, cofounded by Imel and CEO David Atkins, is providing this software for clinics and universities. Both of these companies train their AIs on transcripts of therapy sessions. The technology works in a similar way to a sentiment-analysis algorithm that can tell whether movie reviews are positive or negative. The AI translates from natural language into a kind of bar code or fingerprint of a therapy session.
As AI technology continues to develop, it is likely that even more personalized and targeted treatment plans will become available. This could revolutionize the way mental health is treated, and finally provide patients with the individualized care they need.
2 - Help Patients and Loved Ones Monitor and Manage Progress
Mental health patients must monitor their symptoms, medications, side effects, progress in therapy, and any other changes in their condition.
There are a few different ways an AI can help. Patients can input symptoms into an app or website to help track changes over time. This can help elevate patterns and inform patients whenever their symptoms are getting better or worse. These apps can also help manage medications by keeping track of side effects and helping a patient understand which medications are working.
There are already several apps in this space: MoodKit, Happify, Recovery Record (Eating Disorders), I Am Sober (Sobriety tracker)
Another really interesting space for AI apps is the Trevor Project, which has created several AI tools. Their latest AI chatbot trains crisis counselors by simulating personas that represent a wide range of life situations, backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, and risk levels.
1 - Match Patients with Appropriate Care Providers
According to a 2011 report in the National Library of Medicine, misdiagnosis rates reached 65.9% for major depressive disorder, 92.7% for bipolar disorder, 85.8% for panic disorder, 71.0% for generalized anxiety disorder, and 97.8% for social anxiety disorder. In other words, patients suffering from mental health issues more often presented to their primary care physicians with physical complaints than with psychological ones and were misdiagnosed. AI tools are being developed to assist primary care physicians with signs of mental health issues.
Imagine AI analyzing a patient's medical history and symptoms for possibilities of mental health issues and identifying providers who have the best track record of treating patients with similar conditions.
These AI-based recommendations will help reduce the cost of care by making sure that patients are not seen by care providers who are unlikely to be able to help them.