Just a year ago, Sarah fulfilled the dream of owning her own bakery, which was very popular in the local and provided a well-off life for Sarah and her family. But last February all fell apart, after a car accident left Sarah disabled. "I could barely talk or move," she sobbed.
Darkness and depression drowned Sarah, help seemed out of reach； she couldn't afford a psychologist. Even worse, she had no health insurance.
So her doctor suggested a mental-health app which offers free chatbot service. It is described as a "friendly" and "mental" tool, asking the patient some questions, like "How are you feeling?" or "What's bothering you?" After the patient responds to the questions, the computer analyzes the words and phrases in the answers, and then delivers supportive messages which have been prewritten by trained human psychologists.
That is how Sarah found herself on a new frontier of technology and mental health Advances in artificial intelligence are increasingly being looked to as a way to help people who suffer from mild depression or anxiety.
There are, of course, still plenty of doubts about whether machines can read or respond to the human emotions accurately. "Artificial intelligence is still not at a point where they can copy the complexities of human emotions, let alone imitate mental care," a psychology professor in a mental health center said.
However, supporters of chatbot treatment say the approach may also be the only realistic and affordable way. It meets a huge worldwide need for more mental health care at a time when there are simply not enough professionals to help all the people who could benefit.
