What Role Could Artificial Intelligence Play in Mental Healthcare?

In just over a year, nearly every part of the medical industry has been ushered into a new era of care delivery.

Upended by a crisis, the healthcare sector has had to quickly find new ways of safely providing quality care to patients. For many, the solution was to go digital – typically in the form of telehealth services. In the mental health field, this has become particularly prevalent. 

“The onset of COVID-19 led to a dramatic increase in the use of telehealth,” said Zac Imel, PhD, professor and director of clinical training in the department of educational psychology at the University of Utah.

“Mental health is one area of healthcare that can be delivered via telehealth without losing its essence. There is something that’s lost, but there’s a lot of it that you can do. And there’s been a significant shift. I’ve seen students in my program go from doing no telehealth to almost 95 percent of them doing telehealth.”