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Newswise — LOS ANGELES (Jan. 20, 2025) -- Two new studies from Cedars-Sinai investigators show that artificial intelligence (AI) can be an effective tool for mental health therapy. One study found that therapy sessions with avatars programmed to simulate human therapists earned positive feedback from patients struggling with alcohol addiction. The second study provided evidence that the virtual therapists can provide unbiased counseling regardless of a patient’s race, gender, income or other traits.

Both studies used an application, developed at Cedars-Sinai, that combines AI and virtual reality (VR) goggles. It features avatars that are “trained” by AI to conduct talk therapy with patients in virtual and relaxing environments.

In the first study, published in the , investigators used the VR application to deliver mental health therapy to 20 patients with alcohol-associated cirrhosis, a serious liver disease that can result from long-term excessive alcohol consumption.

Each patient received a 30-minute counseling session from a virtual therapist avatar that had received AI training in motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy and other techniques to help patients alter their behaviors. More than 85% of the patients said they found the sessions beneficial and 90% expressed interest in using virtual therapists again.

“For individuals awaiting liver transplants for cirrhosis, alcohol addiction remains a high-risk factor,” said , professor of Medicine, director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai and the corresponding author for both studies. “We see VR as a way to augment traditional interventions, which often fall short due to a shortage of mental health professionals, societal stigmatizing of alcoholism and other factors.” Spiegel also participated in  demonstrating that VR experiences can even modulate stress levels and immune responses in participants.

In the second study, published in the journal , investigators presented virtual therapists with virtual patients that had been trained by AI to emulate people seeking professional help for anxiety or depression. In each simulated conversation, the virtual therapist was randomly informed of a different sociodemographic profile of the patient based on age, gender, race, ethnicity and annual income. A control group without assigned identities was also included.

The investigators used a standard scale known as “tone analytics” to rate the tone or mood of the language used by the virtual therapist. In repeated samplings involving more than 400 conversations, no significant difference was found in the therapist’s tone score based on a virtual patient’s profile or the absence of a profile. “This data suggests that with thoughtful design, AI can offer equitable and personalized care,” Spiegel said.

These studies highlight the leading role Cedars-Sinai is taking to adopt new technologies and to develop patient-centered approaches to health challenges, said , professor of Medicine, the Medallion Chair in Molecular Medicine and interim chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Medicine.

“These two studies underscore Cedars-Sinai’s commitment to exploring the tremendous potential of artificial intelligence for mental health therapy while ensuring that this technology does not perpetuate human biases in delivering healthcare,” Chen said.  “Cedars-Sinai has become a world leader in tackling this formidable challenge.”

Other Cedars-Sinai authors of the Journal of Medical Extended Reality study include Yee Hui Yeo, Allistair Clark, Muskaan Mehra, Itai Danovitch, Ju Dong Yang, Alexander Kuo, Hyun-Seok Kim, Aarshi Vipani, Yun Wang, Walid Ayoub, Hirsh Trivedi, Jamil S. Samaan and Omer Liran. Additional authors were Karen Osilla, Tiffany Wu, and Vijay H. Shah.

Disclosures: Spiegel and Liran are faculty members at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and co-founders of VRx Health, Inc. Spiegel has no role in the company, has received no payments, royalties, or proceeds from the company, has fully divested all equity and interests in VRx Health, Inc., and has divested from any interest and any potential royalties. Liran is on the Board of VRx Health and maintains equity; he is also eligible to receive future royalties. The AI algorithm in this study was exclusively licensed by Cedars-Sinai to VRx Health for commercialization. Cedars-Sinai has the right to receive future royalty payments from VRx Health under this license agreement and owns stock in VRx Health. All other authors do not have conflict of interest.

Other Cedars-Sinai authors of the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking study include Yee Hui Yeo, Muskaan Mehra, Jamil S. Samaan, Joshua Hakimian, Allistair Clark, Karisma Suchak, Zoe Krut, Taiga Andersson and Omer Liran. Additional authors were Yuxin Peng and Susan Persky.

Disclosures: Spiegel and Liran are faculty members at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and co-founders of VRx Health, Inc. The AI algorithm in this study was exclusively licensed by Cedars-Sinai to VRx Health for commercialization. Cedars-Sinai has the right to receive future royalty payments from VRx Health under this license agreement, and owns stock in VRx Health. All other authors do not have conflict of interest.

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