Blog Post 9- Abbi Herrold

This week in class we discussed online and internet based services which encompasses artificial intelligence. We identified what percentage of people use the internet for medical information; mainly women and caretakers. We reviewed what type of  medical information people search for on the internet such as food & drug safety, hospitals, doctors, treatment types, etc. Finally, we reviewed how asynchronous telepsyhciatry are currently the most widely accepted uses of these programs, but how in the future many more virtual reality and avatar based treatments may be implement in mental healthcare.

I found our guest lecture to be very interesting but also kind of frightening (for lack of a better word). I think that ATP, online tool kits, and mood tracking apps can be very useful in the treatment of mental illnesses. I think many psychologists and psychiatrists are open to the idea of performing tasks or having patients perform simple tasks online that they may perform elsewhere such as clinicians keeping electronic medical records, or patients recording thoughts and triggers on a mobile app. However, I think psychologists and psychiatrists feel that there is a limit of how effectively treatment can be done without human interaction. Chien-Yi mentioned how many different departments of healthcare are interested and invested in the use of artificial intelligence, but how many mental health departments such as the American Psychological Association are not.

While some may view this as a general reluctance from Psychologists, Psychiatrists, and Counselors I think the reluctance has valid reasoning. When forming a diagnosis of a patient a Clinical Psychologist must follow the DSM-5 Criteria the criteria is systematic, empirically based, and objective. HOWEVER, deciding whether or not a patients symptoms and daily functioning is a very subjective process. Many patients may have multiple diagnosis or may not have a specific diagnosis at all, but strong thresholds for a diagnosis. These things are very difficult to assess without significant experience and a strong clinician-patient relationship. Two things which are very hard to train computer-programs or virtual reality clinicians to do. As somebody who has reasonable knowledge on the job of a mental health care professional and aspires to one day be a Clinical Psychologist, I do not think that the duties of a mental health professional can be replicated without human connection and years of experience.

I would like to add that this doesn't mean the field of mental health is completely denying the use of artificial intelligence or web-based treatments. We acknowledge its benefits but we recognize it's limits. I have attached a link that describes the research of my professor who teaches "Introduction to Clinical Psychology". He uses EEG to try to find bio-markers for depression and schizophrenia. According to the book this would be considered a use of artificial intelligence.

http://purdue.imodules.com/s/1461/alumni/feature.aspx?sid=1461&gid=1001&pgid=4184#sthash.mbepYJ5m.dpbs