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Chatbots in the Field of Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities

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Digital Mental Health

Abstract

Chatbots, i.e., a digital system that provides an interface for interaction with users that is based on natural language, are becoming increasingly more common in our daily lives. Potential benefits of using conversational agents for health-related purposes. Moreover, interactions with chatbots can be deeply social and elicit social responses that can lead to improved engagement, making this a promising field of exploration in mental health. The purpose of this chapter is to present an overview of the use of chatbots in mental health care, highlighting its potential contributions to clinical practice in the field. To that, the chapter presents operational definitions and key terms in the chatbot field, expanding it to an overview of a taxonomy of chatbots. Then, current applications of bots in mental health and related fields are presented. The benefits of using chatbots in clinical settings are discussed, including gains related to increasing access to mental health care, facilitating data collection and management, and promoting patient disclosure. Possible concerns about the use of chatbots are also discussed, highlighting the importance of accounting for patient safety, privacy and confidentiality of data, and the management of emergencies in this context. Finally, we reflect on dilemmas and new areas of exploration regarding future applications of chatbots in mental health research and practice.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Anna Viduani

  2. Post Graduate Program in Computing, Universidade Federal de Pelotas & Center for Technological Advancement (CDTec), Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil

    Victor Cosenza

  3. Center for Technological Advancement (CDTec), Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil

    Ricardo Matsumura Araújo

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Division, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Christian Kieling

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  1. Anna Viduani
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  2. Victor Cosenza
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  3. Ricardo Matsumura Araújo
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  4. Christian Kieling
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Kieling .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Ives Cavalcante Passos

  2. Department of Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry, King’s College of London, London, UK

    Francisco Diego Rabelo-da-Ponte

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Flavio Kapczinski

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Viduani, A., Cosenza, V., Araújo, R.M., Kieling, C. (2023). Chatbots in the Field of Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities. In: Passos, I.C., Rabelo-da-Ponte, F.D., Kapczinski, F. (eds) Digital Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10698-9_8

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