How Chatbots are Fighting Coronavirus Caused Mental Health Illness

Chatbots are becoming increasingly important because they can provide information, make suggestions, or act as an AI listener without any hassles.

Fremont, CA: The morbid coronavirus has presented the world with new challenges. Every day, hundreds of thousands of new positive cases are reported around the world. While the physical effects of COVID-19 can be assessed and treated, the mental effects are frequently overlooked. Many people have emotional breakdowns, feeling nervous, tense, stressed, and lonely, as well as having anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and sleep disturbances. All of this, combined with the fear of losing one's job, freedom to go out, concern for one's own and loved ones' health, stigma towards people who have tested COVID-19 positive or who are suffering from a harmless common cold or flu, and an overwhelming desire to hoard essentials, adds to the mental struggle woes. Things are even worse for people who have a history of poor mental health. According to a recent survey, approximately 28 percent of respondents in the US stated on May 31 that their mental health is one of their main concerns about the COVID-19. As a result of a mental illness crisis that has worsened in the last six months, experts are looking to turn to AI solutions to help these people improve or maintain their mental health. Chatbot is one of the most popular applications.

Chatbots are becoming increasingly important because they can provide information, make suggestions, or act as an AI listener without any hassles. Furthermore, while online mental health consultation services charge high fees and appear intimidating, chatbots are mostly free, available 24/7, and place a premium on user privacy. Researchers discovered that people feel more at ease talking to avatars than they do therapists or online service providers. AI chatbots are also useful in areas where physical access is not possible. In general, these chatbots are fed mock transcripts from counselors and physicians, allowing them to handle a wide range of issues. In addition to pandemic-caused mental illness, the World Health Organization (WHO) lists bipolar affective disorder, depression, schizophrenia, and other dementia, intellectual disabilities, psychoses, and developmental disorders such as autism in its list of common mental disorders.

Woebot, a chatbot developed by a team of Stanford psychologists and artificial intelligence experts, uses brief daily chat conversations, curated videos, mood tracking, and word games to assist people in managing their mental health. It is based on a cognitive-behavioral therapy foundation (CBT). CBT employs structured exercises to encourage people to question and change their thought patterns—a format that lends itself well to a step-by-step software guide or chatbot. Woebot can assist patients in managing mental health conditions by changing the way they think and behave by allowing patients to reframe their negative thoughts into positive ones through the use of natural language processing, clinical expertise, and light-hearted daily talk designed to create a therapeutic experience for the user.

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