THE HUMAN-MACHINE INTERACTION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY A systematic review on the use of artificial intelligences in the context of mental health

Abstract

The implementation of mobile information and communication technologies to support mental health has attracted the attention of the authorities. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, this movement could be boosted exponentially. In this scenario, this review aims to verify the applicability of Artificial Intelligences (AIs) in Mental Health and analyze the aspects that favor the relationship between AIs and users. To this end, a systematic review was carried out in the PubMed and Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde databases from May 25 to June 23, 2023. We selected the first 100 most relevant articles with the keywords: "Artificial Intelligence", "Mental Health", "Chatbots", "Psychotherapy", "Psychology" and their English equivalents. The inclusion criteria were: open access, publication from 2018 onwards, in Portuguese or English and mention of the use of AIs in the field of Mental Health. To reduce the risk of bias, we excluded studies that did not measure the impact of interventions using experimental or quasi-experimental methods. In order to synthesize the data, some specific points of analysis were delimited, such as "Outcome of the intervention", "Aspects that favor the relationship", among others. The inclusion criteria were met by 24 studies, of which 17 showed positive results in their interventions. The use of AIs in Mental Health has great potential for expansion and the results obtained in this work can guide the implementation of these practices and future research in the area.