Artificial intelligence in mental health

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the study and design of intelligent machines. Smart
machines may bring up the childhood memory of charismatic fiction humanoid machines
depicted in the movies. For some people, AI may conjure thoughts of mysterious computer
programs capable of being confined to high-end laboratories. AI may appear as a technology
which will occur as a technological achievement shortly for some individuals. Aerial drones,
driverless cars and advanced surveillance equipment are some topics that have brought ordinary
people closer to AI. For example, these days, some technologies, viz. weather prediction
[McGovern et al., 2017], banking [Rahman et al., 2021], aircraft and missile guidance
[Johnson, 2021], manufacturing and logistics [Chien et al., 2020], heavily depend upon AI. AI-
based technologies are also applied to automobiles, image processing, forensics, mobile devices,
and voice recognition (Amazon’s ‘Alexa’ and Apple’s ‘Siri’). Even internet browsers also utilize
AI-based algorithms to remember the browsing preferences of users. Thus, AI-based
technologies are present everywhere, silently helping us perform tasks in an efficient, reliable
and effective way.
As far as healthcare is concerned, AI-based technologies are being used to detect diseases
early, study disease progression, and determine the optimal dosage of medicines in patients
[Jiang et al., 2017]. Moreover, AI-based technologies are also being employed to uncover newer
lines of treatments in diseases such as cancer, diabetes, ophthalmology and radiology [Patel et
al., 2020; Chaki et al., 2020; Du et al., 2018; Hosny et al., 2018]. While the human-learning is
limited by the capacity of an individual to gain and retain knowledge, AI-based intelligent
systems can synthesize information from previously available resources. This capability makes
them machines with virtually unlimited learning capacity. Additionally, rapid identification of
patterns gives cutting-edge strength to AI over conventional methodologies. Interestingly,
scientists have developed AI-based techniques to detect diseases by evaluating patterns and
images better than human experts. Moreover, the algorithms can detect subtle anomalies which
may go undetected by the human sensory organs [Brinker et al., 2019; Sengupta et al., 2018].
Although the complete replacement of clinicians by AI is unlikely to happen, this
technology has emerged as an aid for accurate diagnosis and medical decision-making [Topol,
2019]. Despite remarkable achievements in general healthcare, the mental healthcare discipline
has been relatively slow in adopting AI [Jiang et al., 2017]. The slower pace might be attributed
to mental healthcare professionals’ more patient-centric, individualistic approach toward their
patients. The available data is also in the form of handwritten notes subjective to an individual
patient. However, despite these issues, AI has enormous potential to redefine the diagnosis and
prognosis of mental illnesses [Bzdok & Meyer-Lindenberg, 2018]. In our opinion, AI-based
techniques can offer better diagnosis capabilities and formulate risk models for determining an
individual’s predisposition for developing mental health issues.
References
1. McGovern, A., Elmore, K.L., Gagne, D.J., Haupt, S.E., Karstens, C.D., Lagerquist, R., Smith, T. and
Williams, J.K., 2017. Using artificial intelligence to improve real-time decision-making for high-impact
weather. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98(10), pp.2073-2090.
2. Rahman, M., Ming, T.H., Baigh, T.A. and Sarker, M., 2021. Adoption of artificial intelligence in banking
services: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Emerging Markets.
3. Johnson, J., 2019. Artificial intelligence & future warfare: implications for international security. Defense
& Security Analysis, 35(2), pp.147-169.
4. Chien, C.F., Dauzère-Pérès, S., Huh, W.T., Jang, Y.J. and Morrison, J.R., 2020. Artificial intelligence in
manufacturing and logistics systems: algorithms, applications, and case studies. International Journal of
Production Research, 58(9), pp.2730-2731.
5. Jiang, F., Jiang, Y., Zhi, H., Dong, Y., Li, H., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Dong, Q., Shen, H. and Wang, Y., 2017.
Artificial intelligence in healthcare: past, present and future. Stroke and vascular neurology, 2(4).
6. Patel, D., Shah, Y., Thakkar, N., Shah, K. and Shah, M., 2020. Implementation of artificial intelligence
techniques for cancer detection. Augmented Human Research, 5(1), pp.1-10.
7. Chaki, J., Ganesh, S.T., Cidham, S.K. and Theertan, S.A., 2020. Machine learning and artificial intelligence
based diabetes mellitus detection and self-management: a systematic review. Journal of King Saud
University-Computer and Information Sciences.
8. Du, X.L., Li, WB and Hu, B.J., 2018. Application of artificial intelligence in ophthalmology. International
journal of ophthalmology, 11(9), p.1555.
9. Hosny, A., Parmar, C., Quackenbush, J., Schwartz, L.H. and Aerts, H.J., 2018. Artificial intelligence in
radiology. Nature Reviews Cancer, 18(8), pp.500-510.
10. Brinker, T.J., Hekler, A., Hauschild, A., Berking, C., Schilling, B., Enk, A.H., Haferkamp, S., Karoglan,
A., von Kalle, C., Weichenthal, M. and Sattler, E., 2019. Comparing artificial intelligence algorithms to
157 German dermatologists: the melanoma classification benchmark. European Journal of Cancer, 111,
pp.30-37.
11. Sengupta, P.P. and Adjeroh, D.A., 2018. Will artificial intelligence replace the human echocardiographer?
Clinical considerations. Circulation, 138(16), pp.1639-1642.
12. Topol, E.J., 2019. High-performance medicine: the convergence of human and artificial
intelligence. Nature medicine, 25(1), pp.44-56.
13. Bzdok, D. and Meyer-Lindenberg, A., 2018. Machine learning for precision psychiatry: opportunities and
challenges. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3(3), pp.223-230.