The treatment of mental illnesses is changing thanks to technology: today artificial intelligence (AI) offers psychiatrists new tools to monitor patients and intercept their needs. An opportunity which, however, also raises new problems, starting with those related to privacy. We talked about it with the psychiatrist Antonios Dakanalisprofessor at the University of Milan Bicocca and first signatory of an article on the topic, available online in the magazine ‘Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking’.
“The first applications of AI in medicine developed in sectors where data is available – think of image analysis in oncology screening – while in psychiatry diagnoses are based on clinical interviews and patient behavior – explains Dakanalis -. Today However, research shows that through AI it is possible to identify weak indicators relating to mental health, which would risk escaping a human therapist or quickly examining information from different sources, from biochemical parameters to those present in the electronic health record, to the tone of voice , to other elements”.
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Patient’s writing
It has been seen, for example, that by monitoring the patient’s writing through an app it is possible to perceive with a very high level of precision the risk of suicide, which represents one of the main causes of death among young people.
“The objective of this type of app is to respond to the growing demand for mental health therapies and also reach patients who are in remote locations and not covered by services – continues the teacher -. But also to intercept weak signals and promptly evaluate the risk of various pathologies, for example making an early diagnosis of autism or some common mental pathologies such as anxiety disorders”.
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‘Disease’ exercises
An app that offers patients verbal exercises and questions to identify signs of mental illness is already being tested at the University of Colorado.
“In other cases, wearable instruments are used equipped with sensors that analyze physiological parameters such as heartbeat or sleep patterns, allowing alterations that require medical intervention to be identified. In other cases, digital technologies can be associated with virtual reality to collect – explains Dakanalis – a quantity of digital biomarkers relating to facial expressions, tone of voice, eye movements to be integrated with physiological parameters to evaluate the health conditions of a subject”.
Drugs
Some of this research is also underway in Italy: “In 2023 we created an application that allows us to predict how a patient responds to a drug against depression – continues Dakanalis – an important data, given that around a third of patients does not respond to therapy or has to change medication: an analysis of this type allows us to create personalized therapies and also reduce healthcare costs.”
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Signs of depression
Another ongoing project concerns an app designed to identify signs of depression or other health problems by combining voice analysis with data on the quality and quantity of sleep and nutrition.
“In this way it is possible to identify emergencies and report when it is appropriate to contact a specialist, optimizing interventions, especially in the case of a shortage of personnel – underlines the teacher -. However, studies on chatbots, psychological assistance services based on AI, partly already available, with which you can communicate and get advice on managing anxiety or other symptoms”.
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You always need a therapist
The problem is that it is difficult to quantify its efficiency. “They are a way to start tackling the problem, but they cannot replace the relationship with the therapist which is the basis of the effectiveness of any technique: if anything, apps can be useful to bring the patient closer to the idea of following therapy”, he explains Dakanalis.
In short, technology is not intended to replace therapists but to support them, “so much so that in the United States – recalls Dakanalis – psychiatrists and psychotherapists are being hired to respond to the needs that emerge from the use of Apps”. In addition to working to create apps capable of identifying the most suitable therapy for each patient.
How valid is the information collected?
Obviously there are also problems linked to the objectivity of the information collected, “in particular with regard to the categories that have greater difficulty in accessing therapies and above all privacy, even if today the problem is rather that the necessary data is not always available in electronic form”. “At community level – concludes the expert – there are already proposals to regulate the matter (EU AI Act), but extremely rigid regulation could make us lose the possibility of exploiting the new opportunities offered by technology“.