The Role of AI powered chat Apps against the background of declining Mental Health provision in the UK.
To even a casual viewer of current affairs, it is very obvious that the UK Government is facing a fiscal crisis and has very few options to be able to fund its many existing commitments. Essentially, the options are to increase taxation or reduce services…neither popular…both painful.
The current trajectory tends to favour cuts; however, the UK is already facing a growing crisis in mental health provision with waiting times for mental health support growing and service provision shrinking. Against this backdrop, AI chat apps are emerging as valuable tools to fill the ever-widening gap in mental health provision.
AI chat apps can play a particularly critical role due to their immediate availability to the millions of vulnerable individuals in the UK who are facing mental health challenges but are unable to access timely human support.
Whilst AI chat apps can never be a replacement for, nor were they intended to be a replacement for personal professional care, they do offer 24/7 support, providing users with immediate, non-judgemental, stigma-free, and hugely cost-effective support for those in need.
They can also be particularly appealing to younger demographics and those hesitant to seek traditional therapy due to their complete anonymity and instant availability.
Platforms such as these utilise a number of technicalities to generate genuinely empathetic conversations, such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and natural language processing. Due to their immersive nature, these apps can, therefore, also act as an early intervention tool and engender preventative mental care by engaging individuals before their condition deteriorates and thereby reduce pressure on overstretched NHS services.
To conclude; whilst AI powered chat apps are not a comprehensive solution to the problem of declining mental health provision, they do offer an important and significant aid in mental health support…and in these times of declining public health provision, a cost-effective and scalable solution such as this could be enough to ‘tip the scales’ and help to close the care gap for millions across the UK.