Healio (4/10) reported a study found that “adults showed a significant reduction in their clinical-level mental health symptoms with unrestricted access to a generative AI-powered chatbot designed for mental health treatment.” Study researchers “evaluated Therabot’s ability to treat symptoms of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or high risk for feeding and eating disorders (CHR-FED) among 210 adults aged 18 years or older.” The results suggest that “Therabot users experienced greater reductions in their respective symptoms compared with the control group.” In addition, “the intervention group reported a therapeutic alliance with Therabot comparable to what patients report with in-person providers.” Nevertheless, researchers concluded, “While these results are very promising, no generative AI agent is ready to operate fully autonomously in mental health where there is a very wide range of high-risk scenarios it might encounter.” The study was published in NEJM AI.
Related Links:
— “Generative AI chatbot ‘promising’ for mental health treatment, but supervision needed,”Moira Mahoney, Healio, April 10, 2025