How to Use AI Voice Coaches to Decrease Anxiety and Sadness

According to a research, utilizing AI Voice Lumen led to alterations in patients’ brain activity as well as reduced signs of anxiety and despair.

Exploring AI Voice in Mental Health: Insights from the University of Illinois Study

A recent UIC study suggests that AI could effectively aid in treating mental illness, showing promising results.  The study found that Lumen, an AI voice tool, changed brain activity and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The UIC team claims that results show virtual treatment can effectively address gaps in mental health care. The publication Translational Psychiatry released the research. Where patients, particularly those from vulnerable areas, regularly encounter barriers to receiving care, such as waitlists and access discrepancies. Dr. Olusola A. noted a surge in demand due to rising anxiety, depression rates, and a shortage of practitioners. Ajilore, a psychiatry professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a co-first author of the study. Technology of this kind could serve as a connection. It’s not a replacement for traditional therapy but can temporarily help until individuals receive proper treatment.

Ajilore and Dr. Jun Ma created Lumen with scientists from Penn State and Washington University. It is funded by a $2 million National Institute of Mental Health grant and operates on Amazon Alexa.

AI-Driven Therapy: Evaluating Lumen’s Impact on Depression and Anxiety

UIC researchers enrolled 60 patients to study how the app affects depressive symptoms, anxiety, and brain activity.

Two-thirds of patients used Lumen in eight sessions; the remaining third served as a “waitlist” control group.

Participants using the AI Voice Lumen app reported lower psychological distress, anxiety, and depression compared to the control group. A brain region linked to cognitive control, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, was more active in the Lumen group, which also shown gains in problem-solving abilities. Women and underrepresented groups also had encouraging outcomes.

It involves altering how individuals see issues and the best approach to solve them, as well as preventing emotional overload, according to Ma. This well-established, pragmatic, and patient-driven behaviour treatment is a suitable fit for delivery via voice-based technologies.

The researcher is presently engaged in a bigger investigation that compares the usage of Lumen with both a waitlist control group and patients undergoing human-coached problem-solving therapy. They underline that the virtual coach need not perform better than a human therapist in order to fill a crucial vacuum in the mental health system. 

The best way to approach digital mental health services, according to Ma, is not to see apps as a replacement for people, but rather as a way to bridge the gap between supply and demand by identifying new, secure, and efficient ways to provide care to people who might not otherwise have it.