Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust has launched a trial of an AI chatbot to support mental health services for Londoners – including those who have been referred for support and are waiting for an appointment.
The aim of the trial is to explore if the chatbot, which is called Wysa, helps with depression and anxiety levels of patients, at the point of referral. It also hopes to provide clinical evidence whether the app can maintain, or improve, mental health symptoms during the waiting period for traditional talking therapies.
A further aim of the study is to provide evidence that Wysa can accurately detect when people are experiencing more severe mental health difficulties and automatically identify those in need of higher intensity or more urgent treatment.
The tech uses natural language understanding (NLU) to provide support through conversation, providing advice based on clinically-reviewed cognitive-behavioural techniques. It’s hoped that, deaqfollowing a successful trial, the app can then be adopted into wider NHS mental health services.
For the trial, participants will be randomly selected from mental health waiting lists at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Participants will be given access to Wysa and the trust will monitor their levels of anxiety and depression using questionnaires provided through the app.
Dr Lucy Wilson-Shaw, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at CNWL, said: “We in Kensington and Westminster services can’t wait to see the impact that a CBT chatbot might have on patients while they wait for therapy. We’ve partnered with Wysa to test out if we can help more people faster and more effectively.
“We are always looking to find ways for people to be able to access the help they need as quickly as possible and to reduce any barriers and anxiety people feel about coming to a talking therapy service. Some people may find the anonymity of a chatbot reduces anxiety about starting therapy and we hope it will help people to start the work sooner and better prepare them for meeting with the therapist and making the best use of their therapy sessions.”
