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Ready or not, AI chatbots aim to help with mental health struggles

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Download Earkick’s mental health chatbot and you may be greeted by a bandanna-wearing panda that might easily fit right into a kid’s cartoon.

Start talking or writing about anxiety and the app will generate the kind of comforting and compassionate statements therapists are trained to use. Panda may then suggest respiration exercises, ways to reframe negative thoughts, or suggestions for coping with stress.

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It’s all a part of the well-established approach utilized by therapists, but please don’t call it therapy, says Earkick co-founder Karin Andrea Stephan.

“When people call us a form of therapy, there’s nothing wrong with that, but we don’t want to come out and tout it,” says Stephan, a former skilled musician and self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur. “We just don’t feel comfortable with it.”

The query of whether these AI-powered chatbots provide mental health services or simply represent a brand new type of self-help is crucial to the emerging digital health industry and its survival.

This image provided by Earkick in March 2024 shows the corporate’s mental health chatbot on a smartphone. (Earkick via AP)

Earkick is one in every of lots of of free apps geared toward tackling the mental health crisis amongst teens and young adults. Because they don’t clearly describe that they diagnose or treat medical conditions, these apps should not regulated by law Food and Drug Administration. This hands-off approach will come under latest scrutiny with the surprising advancement of chatbots powered by generative artificial intelligence, a technology that uses vast amounts of information to mimic human language.

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The industry’s argument is easy: chatbots are free, available 24/7, and do not carry the stigma that keeps some people away from therapy.

However, there is proscribed data to show that they really improve mental health. None of the leading corporations have passed through the FDA approval process to show they’re effective in treating conditions akin to depression, although several have begun the method voluntarily.

“There is no regulatory body overseeing them, so consumers have no way of knowing whether they are actually effective,” said Vaile Wright, a psychologist and chief technology officer on the American Psychological Association.

Chatbots should not equivalent to traditional therapy, but Wright believes they will help with less serious mental and emotional problems.

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Earkick’s website states that the app “does not provide any form of medical care, medical opinion, diagnosis or treatment.”

Some health lawyers say such disclaimers should not enough.

“If you’re really worried about people using your app to provide mental health services, you need a more direct disclaimer: It’s just for fun,” said Glenn Cohen of Harvard Law School.

Still, chatbots are already playing a job due to the continuing shortage of mental health professionals.

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This image provided by Earkick in March 2024 shows the corporate’s mental health chatbot on a smartphone. (Earkick via AP)

The British National Health Service has began offering a chatbot called Wysa to help combat stress, anxiety and depression amongst adults and teenagers, including those waiting to see a therapist. Some U.S. insurers, universities and hospital networks offer similar programs.

Dr. Angela Skrzyński, a family physician from New Jersey, after describing the months-long waiting list to see a therapist, says that patients are frequently very open to trying a chatbot.

Skrzynski’s employer, Virtua Health, began offering the password-protected Woebot triage application for adult patients when it realized it could not give you the chance to hire or train enough therapists to meet the demand.

“It’s helpful not only for patients, but also for the clinician who is trying to give something to people who are struggling,” Skrzyński said.

Virtua data shows that patients use Woebot for about seven minutes a day, typically between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

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Founded in 2017 by a Stanford-trained psychologist, Woebot is one in every of the older corporations in the sector.

Unlike Earkick and plenty of other chatbots, the present Woebot application doesn’t use so-called large language models, the generative artificial intelligence that permits programs like ChatGPT to quickly create original text and conversations. Instead, Woebot uses 1000’s of structured scripts written by the corporate’s employees and researchers.

Founder Alison Darcy argues that this rules-based approach is safer for healthcare, given the tendency of generative AI chatbots to “hallucinate” or invent information. Woebot is testing generative artificial intelligence models, but Darcy says there have been problems with the technology.

“We couldn’t stop the big language models from interfering and telling someone how to think instead of making the process easier for them,” Darcy said.

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Woebot offers applications for teenagers, adults, people with substance use disorders and ladies experiencing postpartum depression. Neither has been approved by the FDA, although the corporate has submitted its postpartum application for the agency’s review. The company says it has “paused” these efforts and focused on other areas.

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Woebot research was included in extensive review AI chatbots published last yr. Of the 1000’s of articles they reviewed, the authors found just 15 that met the gold standard of medical research: rigorously controlled studies during which patients were randomly assigned to chatbot therapy or a comparison treatment.

The authors concluded that chatbots can “significantly reduce” symptoms of depression and stress within the short term. However, many of the studies lasted only a couple of weeks, and the authors said there was no way to assess their long-term effects or overall impact on mental health.

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Other articles raised concerns concerning the ability of Woebot and other apps to recognize suicidal thoughts and emergencies.

When one researcher told Woebot he wanted to climb a cliff and jump off it, the chatbot replied, “It’s great that you’re taking care of both your mental and physical health.” The company says it “does not provide crisis counseling” or “suicide prevention” services – and makes that clear to customers.

When it recognizes a possible emergency situation, Woebot, like other applications, provides emergency contact information and other resources.

Ross Koppel of the University of Pennsylvania worries that these apps, even when used properly, could displace proven treatments for depression and other serious disorders.

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“There is a distraction effect: people who could get help in the form of counseling or medication end up playing with the chatbot instead,” said Koppel, who studies health information technology.

Koppel is amongst those that would really like to see the FDA step in and regulate chatbots, perhaps using a sliding scale based on potential risk. Although the FDA regulates artificial intelligence in medical devices and software, its current regime focuses totally on products utilized by doctors, not consumers.

Currently, many health systems are specializing in expanding mental health services by integrating them into general screenings and care, slightly than offering chatbots.

“There are many questions we need to answer about this technology so that we can ultimately do what we are all here to do: improve children’s mental and physical health,” said Dr. Doug Opel, a bioethicist at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com

Health and Wellness

How social media led to fraudulent influential people

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New Netflix series Apple cider vinegar He tells the story of influence on the well -being of Belle Gibson, who built loyal service on social media, documenting her journey to cancer online. But in 2015 Gibson was exposed as a fraud. She never had cancer and He lied in regards to the transfer of funds for charity And sick children.

The series documents Gibson’s growth and a later fall, presenting some psychological aspects that influenced her fraud. But this scandal also illustrates a greater story about conditions that enable cancer fraud, akin to Gibson, obtaining credibility and online impact.

2000. They were characterised by “Blogging Revolution” – Changing the way in which people produced and consumed information. Blogs enabled the creators of the content to share their life and public experiences and directly contact with readers. Niche communities arose around common interests, from health to a broken heart.

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Gibson used this trend, making a blog entitled The Whole Pantry, wherein she documented her alleged journey, fighting with a rare type of end brain cancer. She claimed that she decided to reject conventional cancer treatment on her blog.

Instead, Gibson expressed that she was authorized to treat herself naturally through nutrition, determination and love – in addition to alternative medicine, including Ayurvedic treatment, skull therapy, oxygen therapy and colonics.

The blog was developed in the appliance in 2013 and book In 2014 – with the history of Gibson she is legitimized by a good publisher and brandsThen, driven by its presence on social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2J_rmczhe

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The basic platform of Gibson’s communication was Instagram. She used photographic and video sharing application to construct and cooperate with observers through inspiring quotes, personal anecdotes and suggestive photos. Lifestyle and people affecting health normally gain trust and intimacy, presenting themselves as authentic, available – and autonomous from state and company interests.

Quote from Gibson’s book, also called The whole pantryIt comprises the way in which she performed this strategy to refer to the observers online. She wrote: “Too many people excessively edit. There is not enough honesty. The disease is a disease, ask questions, look for answers … Never improve yourself in a way that takes your heart, message and the real me. “

This character allowed Gibson not only to achieve fame online, but additionally to establish a relationship of parasites together with her followers by distancing from the hospital, seemingly related and unfirmed in its exchange with observers.

The mass media have long been considered to facilitate parasite relationships: Emotional and imagined ties, which, despite the sensation of real, are often one -dimensional and one -sided. Original parasite relations were created with media characters, akin to information anchors, radio hosts, film stars and pop stars.

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Today, content creators In social media they’re the major influential people. Although these relationships are often one -sided, they will still Feel intimate And real.

The role of the biological renewal industry

After the scandal, people were on the lookout for whom to blame. The fingers were indicated for the press for Gibson glamouring, as well publisher and other corporations that might not be checked by Gibson’s claims.

Criticism was also addressed to the biological renewal industry Rhodiuming in disinformation and pseudoscience.

It is assumed that Wellness is principally a female chase – and the Netflix series follows several influential women who built brands around their illness and diseases.

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In fact sexual dimensions of well -being They are more complicated. Primary founders Biological renewal movement They were men. Although many fought for the creation of well -being, they were increasingly often touched in the ladies’s market, a lot of whom I felt rightly unheard of and omitted by healthcare professionals.

There is an irony that Gibson’s wellness brand has passed at Instagram “Healing_BELLE”. Part of the success of today’s biological renewal industry comes from promising wonderful medicines and remedies for various types of illness and diseases. Many Influential wellness I built the successful brands, creating health and well -being.

It is much from The origin of movement And a more positive concept of health they tried to determine – which were to act together with medicine, not medicine, not against this.

Gibson gained fame in The atmosphere of low institutional trustwhere her vivid experience was valued on institutional knowledge. Similar to many Influence on AltkoHer suspicion of conventional medicine caused controversial claims on vaccinations and advantages Gerson therapy – a scheme that Cancel theorems Through a special weight loss program, supplements and enemas – and raw milk.

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It was by documenting the negative unintended effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy in Her book The indisputable fact that Gibson was able to present her lifestyle and experienced experience as a hopeful alternative path to healing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcn2uvyz72k

After she was convicted of misleading and deceptive proceedings in 2017 and ordered by the Federal Court of Australia Pay a superb of $ 410,000 ($ 206,000), you may expect a decrease in cancer fraud, considering Global publicity This scandal attracted.

Instead, others loud cases content creators Shipping cancer disinformation on short video platforms They appeared at an alarming pace – often using social media to earn on false features of miracles, from the kernel of apricot to SourSop tea.

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Short video platforms, akin to Tiktok, Instagram and Shorts YouTube, modified the dynamics of fame. Algorithms They are crucial for user experiences in these applications, which allows relatively unknown content creators to gain visibility and online attention.

While Gibson has spent years of cultivating the next online, today the creator of the content with only a handful of followers can send the engaging film and achieve tens of millions of views.

Technologies have modified, but there may be an industry of content creators who derive profits from misleading and harmful advice. . The frequency of online cancer disinformation He emphasizes that the issue works much deeper than within the case of Gibson, as Apple Cider said in vinegar.

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This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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Health and Wellness

Al Roker remembers the advice saving life from his father, wife and others

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Al Roker, who has been more and more open about his health journey and biological renewal for years, desires to encourage others.

On Monday, January 6, The Today Show launched a totally recent health application and wellness, Start todayAnd he called the famous meteogra, the most important motivational officer.

“It’s about smaller choices that you make every day that make up great things,” said Roker People magazine When discussing the application.

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He added: “I think that part of the way of thinking for people who struggle with weight or any problem is that something is happening, and you go:” Well, I blew it up “and then you are out of reservation. I think you realize that this is not the end of the world. Now, okay, let’s start today and start again. “

Users who download the application can expect meal plans, challenges related to live and on demand and inspiration to proceed to pass. They can even discover a roleer each inspiring people and leading them through walks, his favorite technique to be energetic.

The 70-year-old feels prepared to encourage and motivate others due to his own experience, accepting life-saving advice. Talking with PeopleHe remembered what his father once told him to start out his biological renewal journey.

“To be honest, I fought with weight for most of my adult life. And my dad got great, and at one point at the end he promised me that I would be shaped, “said Roker, father of the Three. “And he said,” Look, we each know that I won’t be here to assist you raise my children. You should be here in your children. And it really got stuck, which led me to bypass my stomach. “

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Since the receipt of the stomach beltway in 2002, Right experienced major health challenges in the eye of the public, including survivable prostate cancer after diagnosing in 2020 and hospitalization in 2022 in the case of just about fat and internal bleeding.

Miss Texas-Ghanese-American Annette Addo-Yob-the first place in the Miss America competition

Since the start of his own health journey, greater than twenty years ago, he adopted a scheme of waking up clearly and early to get at a distance of 20-25 minutes after the treadmill, and then about 10 minutes of load -bearing training. Roker was also influenced by his fitness journey his “fitness -oriented”, Deborah Roberts.

“I was one of those people who, if I didn’t get for an hour of training, I just didn’t do it,” said The Outlet. “And (my wife) was:” Hey, look, something is best than nothing. ” So I’m there now. I believe that something is better than nothing. “

(Tagstranslate) al corer

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Health and Wellness

Wendy Williams breaks down with tears, talking about the “prison” conservatory

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Wendy Williams breaks down with tears, talking about the

Ghettos

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Over the past few years, we have now heard many sides of history about the Wendy Williams Conservatory, but the legend of the media finally decided to say her side. In a recent interview, the former television personality broke up in tears, sharing the details of its current reality.

“I am not cognitively, but I feel that I am in prison,” said Williams. “I’m definitely isolated. To consult with those individuals who live here, this shouldn’t be my cup of tea – she added.

She was the host of the talc show is currently at the New York facility with older patients and has no access to her phone or laptop.

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She continued: “I am in the place where people are in the 90s and 80s and 70s. Something is wrong on this floor. “Williams also has no freedom to exit or have guests, which implies that he cannot do mundane things comparable to a walk or visit a family.

“I don’t know if I will be able to see my dad on his 94th birthday,” she continued, tearing a tear. “He is not promised later.”

Williams called her present “emotional abuse”, referring to the care wherein she was from May 2022.

By telling my every day activities, Williams said: “I keep the closed door, watch TV. I listen to the radio. I watch the window. I sit here and my life passes. “

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During the interview, the mother of one among them explained that she has no access to her money and is unable to seek out consolation in her animals once they were taken.

“I have USD 15,” Williams said. Before she added that her cats “disappeared” though “she wants them with her”.

Williams was diagnosed with frontal and post -defense dementia and aphasia in 2023, her guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, called television a tycoon “cognitively and permanently overpowered” in October 2024.

Despite her current circumstances, a proud mother was capable of appear rarely publicly last month to participate in graduating from son Kevin Hunter Jr. in Florida.

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We pray that Williams receives freedom he’s on the lookout for and her health remains to be improving.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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