We've updated our Privacy Policy to make it clearer how we use your personal data. We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. You can read our Cookie Policy here.

Advertisement

Digital Avatars Could Offer Effective Mental Health Support

A young man wears a VR headset.
Credit: Hammer & Tusk/ Unsplash
Listen with
Speechify
0:00
Register for free to listen to this article
Thank you. Listen to this article using the player above.

Want to listen to this article for FREE?

Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.

Read time: 2 minutes

Two new studies from Cedars-Sinai investigators show that artificial intelligence (AI) can be an effective tool for mental health therapy. One study found that therapy sessions with avatars programmed to simulate human therapists earned positive feedback from patients struggling with alcohol addiction. The second study provided evidence that the virtual therapists can provide unbiased counseling regardless of a patient’s race, gender, income or other traits.


Both studies used an application, developed at Cedars-Sinai, that combines AI and virtual reality (VR) goggles. It features avatars that are “trained” by AI to conduct talk therapy with patients in virtual and relaxing environments.


In the first study, published in the Journal of Medical Extended Reality, investigators used the VR application to deliver mental health therapy to 20 patients with alcohol-associated cirrhosis, a serious liver disease that can result from long-term excessive alcohol consumption.


Each patient received a 30-minute counseling session from a virtual therapist avatar that had received AI training in motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy and other techniques to help patients alter their behaviors. More than 85% of the patients said they found the sessions beneficial and 90% expressed interest in using virtual therapists again.


“For individuals awaiting liver transplants for cirrhosis, alcohol addiction remains a high-risk factor,” said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, professor of Medicine, director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai and the corresponding author for both studies. “We see VR as a way to augment traditional interventions, which often fall short due to a shortage of mental health professionals, societal stigmatizing of alcoholism and other factors.” Spiegel also participated in recent research demonstrating that VR experiences can even modulate stress levels and immune responses in participants.

Want more breaking news?

Subscribe to Technology Networks’ daily newsletter, delivering breaking science news straight to your inbox every day.

Subscribe for FREE
In the second study, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, investigators presented virtual therapists with virtual patients that had been trained by AI to emulate people seeking professional help for anxiety or depression. In each simulated conversation, the virtual therapist was randomly informed of a different sociodemographic profile of the patient based on age, gender, race, ethnicity and annual income. A control group without assigned identities was also included.


The investigators used a standard scale known as “tone analytics” to rate the tone or mood of the language used by the virtual therapist. In repeated samplings involving more than 400 conversations, no significant difference was found in the therapist’s tone score based on a virtual patient’s profile or the absence of a profile. “This data suggests that with thoughtful design, AI can offer equitable and personalized care,” Spiegel said.


These studies highlight the leading role Cedars-Sinai is taking to adopt new technologies and to develop patient-centered approaches to health challenges, said  Peter Chen, MD, professor of Medicine, the Medallion Chair in Molecular Medicine and interim chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Medicine.


“These two studies underscore Cedars-Sinai’s commitment to exploring the tremendous potential of artificial intelligence for mental health therapy while ensuring that this technology does not perpetuate human biases in delivering healthcare,” Chen said.  “Cedars-Sinai has become a world leader in tackling this formidable challenge.”


Reference: Yeo YH, Clark A, Mehra M, et al. The feasibility and usability of an artificial intelligence-enabled conversational agent in virtual reality for patients with alcohol-associated cirrhosis: a multi-methods study. J Med Extend Reality. 2024;1(1):257-270. doi: 10.1089/jmxr.2024.0033


This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.