Main image courtesy of Ealing Counsellor. 

AI is gradually making its way into all parts of the medical field, including assisting with mental health. More and more folks across the country are exploring the benefits of reaching out to mental health professionals to get the assistance they need—even more so since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is estimated that around 23% of the U.S. adult population is dealing with a mental health issue, further acknowledging just how crucial these services are to the population. However, a lot of therapists and counselors are finding that they’re not able to keep up with the rising demand, and many are reaching the point of burn out.

Luckily AI technology has been steadily increasing its presence in therapy and in the management of offices that focus on mental health. But how far will it go? In this article we’ll be delving deeper into:

• How psychiatrists are using AI
• Whether or not AI can replace mental health professionals
• The benefits of using AI in your mental health practice

How are psychiatrists using AI right now?

AI is definitely making an impact in the mental health field

You may or may not already know that AI has been slowly making its way into medical facilities all across the world. And while you might not always see the AI at work, it’s reassuring to know that it is there helping clinicians better care for their patients, and making it easier for patients to navigate the complex world of healthcare. In specialized fields AI is assisting with delicate surgeries and ensuring the next wave of doctors are properly trained with life-like simulations, but what is it being used for in the mental health field?

• Streamlining therapists’ office workflow. One of the major ways that AI can assist mental health workers is by taking away tedious clerical tasks so that they can concentrate on assisting their patients. Traditionally, during a therapy session a provider would need to ensure they’re writing down or inputting into a laptop/tablet updates to the patient’s medical history, new issues, conditions, and notes regarding potential diagnosis and treatment options. This means that the clinician’s attention is divided since they want to hear what the patient is telling them, but they’re also responsible for updating notes for the EHR.

Using an ambient medical scribe like Playback Health takes this burden away from mental health providers. The AI scribe listens to the doctor/patient conversation and transcribes what needs to be filled out on the note. Using NLP (natural language processing), the AI app is very good at catching the pertinent information so that nothing (or next to nothing) is left out. Then the provider just needs to review the note and approve it before moving on. Taking this clerical task out of the hands of a clinician is a great way to reduce their already heavy workload, permitting them to instead concentrate on patients. 

• Assisting with diagnoses. AI can process mountains of data in a short amount of time, allowing it to learn and recognize patterns that might need to be flagged for human review. Since it is continually learning from new data, AI can get very good at assisting with diagnoses and catching problems before they can escalate into something more critical. When the application brings this to the attention of a provider, it can also provide the likelihood of a certain diagnosis, and even suggest some treatment options that might benefit the patient.

With faster, accurate diagnoses, AI can also create more personalized patient treatment plans that are customized to each particular patient. Using the potential diagnoses, AI can recommend to the clinician what types of therapies or other treatments to have the highest chance of success. This is custom made for each patient because the AI takes into account their medical history and what has/has not worked for them in the past. The provider will still need to make the final decision when it comes to the treatment, but it’s helpful for them to have a second opinion to base it off of. 

• AI assistants. There are also AI assistants and chatbots that are becoming more popular in the mental health community—and giving a wide range of people more access to mental health options. Chatbots like Woebot Health give people who may be struggling an accessible way to start the conversation surrounding their mental health. With chatbots like this, folks can get answers to common questions as well as basic treatments or techniques that may give them some relief.

Chatbots are not a replacement for therapists, instead they’re designed to help people who are afraid to reach out due to stigma, location, or cost, as it helps them to take the first steps. Chatbots can encourage those seeking help to find local resources for mental health professionals in their area, either in person or online.

• AI chatbots are designed to be the first access point for someone seeking assistance, and they are not created for long term use.

• Wearable tech. You’ll also find AI technology present in a variety of wearables that are assisting patients right now. There are apps that can monitor heart rate and sleeping patterns, as well as the mood of the wearers. This information can be used to track data regarding treatment plans, what is beneficial to the patient, and what could use some adjustments. Apps and AI can also help patients stay on track, whether that means attending their appointments and sessions, or remembering to take their medications.

Benefits of using AI in the mental health field

AI is continuing to make an impact in mental health, and while the technology is still developing, there are a lot of benefits to including it in your practice. 

1. Better organization

As a mental health provider, you want to concentrate on caring for your patients. However, depending on your situation, you may also have a business to run. If you’re in private practice by yourself or with a group of other psychiatrists, you still need to ensure that the office continues to run smoothly, that bills are paid, and patients are scheduled and seen seamlessly. AI excels when it comes to taking over tedious and repetitive tasks such as taking notes, or medical coding for billing purposes. It can also assist with the patient journey, from check in, sending patient reminders, scheduling follow ups, and checking out patients. 

Streamlining your workflow means everyone who works in the office is on the same page, allowing them to concentrate on other patient-centric tasks instead of doing something that AI can easily do.

2. Cost effective

Using AI to assist with notes, EHRs, and medical documentation is a very cost effective way to allow clinicians to spend more time with their patients. Instead of writing the same information down repeatedly, AI can easily fill in information and make updates to records, allowing providers to get more of their time back during the day and prevent burnout from excess work. 

AI programs can also more accurately code bills to insurance companies, ensuring they’re more likely to be approved to keep the office operating within their budget.

3. Can assist with early detection

Like other medical fields, AI can also assist providers with earlier detection in patients. It can run through patient information, symptoms, and medical history against enormous amounts of data regarding mental illnesses. Detecting a potential condition quickly means that the patient can start to receive treatment sooner than they could with just a provider alone. 

4. Helps patients learn to self manage

Under a provider’s care, a patient can learn to recognize what can cause triggering behavior, and learn how to better manage it. They can also utilize wearable AI tech to monitor their own sleep cycle or mood, allowing them to learn how to recognize patterns in their own behavior. This can be very empowering for patients to get involved in their care.

Will AI replace mental health professionals?

Will we see AI replace providers in the mental health field?

While there are a lot of real benefits to including AI in the mental health sphere, it should not be designed to replace licensed psychiatrists. A lot of folks in a variety of professions may feel worried about AI taking their jobs, and while there are some industries that will see more automation in the future, healthcare cannot lose the human to human connection. Speaking to a chatbot is one thing, but having a conversation with a human mental health provider is something else entirely. There is no way a chatbot can replicate non-verbal communication, or understand what another person is going through. Humans in the mental health sphere can use AI to help their practice and their patients, and should not need to worry about it replacing them. 

There are regulatory, legal, ethical, and general safety issues that would need to be ironed out before people seeking mental health assistance would only have AI to rely on. This isn’t to say chatbots and AI personas won’t continue to propagate because they do offer real benefit to folks who may not otherwise have had the opportunity to engage with a human therapist. AI cannot mimic the empathy of humans, which is at the absolute core of the medical profession. If any real progress is to be made with a mental illness, it will require the doctor/patient bond that many therapists enjoy with their patients. 

Why can’t AI replace mental health workers?

AI should not be built to replace mental health workers, it instead should help with organization, clerical, and automated tasks. It’s a great idea for it to be the first step on a mental health journey, but it should be used in conjunction with a human clinician. However, as we approach this new era of more and more AI integration, mental health providers should see this as a chance to give their input to the businesses designing these apps. Having clinician input would ensure that AI is meant to augment the doctor/patient relationship, and not replace it.

Key takeaways regarding AI and mental health professionals

Will AI replace mental health professionals? Like other healthcare fields, this is not likely. This is not the goal of AI, instead it is created to help healthcare professionals give the best care possible to patients.

• AI is already used in a variety of ways in the mental health field and will continue to expand. 
• The benefits of AI include effective business management, it is cost effective, it can quickly give potential diagnoses and offer treatment plans, can manage clerical tasks,  and can streamline the patient journey.
• The future is bright for AI in the mental health industry, but it is not designed to replace a professional who can offer expert advice, draw on their own experience, and provide empathy to patients.

Will you start to engage the power of AI in your mental health practice?

There are all kinds of ways for your mental health practice to start utilizing the power of AI. Whether you need to use it to streamline your business work flow, help with more accurate diagnoses, or automate the patient journey, there are AI applications to assist you with all this and more. If you’re ready to start spending more time with your patients and less time doing administrative work, consider Playback Health for all your ambient medical scribe needs.