Article Excerpt: Psychologists and technologists see them as the future of therapy. The Food and Drug Administration is exploring whether to regulate them as medical devices…
In March, psychologists at Dartmouth published the results of a clinical trial of TheraBot, a chatbot the university had developed for more than six years. The chatbot significantly reduced users’ symptoms of depression, anxiety and eating disorders, the trial found. Still, the Dartmouth psychologists believed their technology was not ready for widespread use.
“The evidence for its effectiveness is strong,” said Nicholas Jacobson, one of the clinical psychologists who oversaw the TheraBot project. “Our focus now is on a highly careful, safety-conscious and evidence-based approach to making it available.”
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4285uy65
Article Source: The New York Times