4 ms·

I can't speak to Woebot specifically, but I'd exercise caution when investigating chat based therapy. I feel like if you care enough to ask on HN, you checking

by Arkdy 9y ago

I can't speak to Woebot specifically, but I'd exercise caution when investigating chat based therapy. I feel like if you care enough to ask on HN, you checking in on him would quickly surpass what a bot could do. As for chat based therapy with humans behind them, I'd advise steering clear of them completly: - They explictly don't provide professional care or verify the credentials of their staff. - They're incentivised, not to give you the best care, but to keep you in the system for as long as possible since you getting better = churn. - I believe that getting sub-standard care from systems like these might dissuade your friend from seeking the actual, professional help he might need.

DanBC 9y ago
Maybe you're using "chat based therapy" to mean something specific, but some talking therapies have excellent evidence (large amounts of robustly analysed data across a wide range of different people with different types of depression) and eg cognitive behaviour therapy is about 60% effective. CBT combined with anti-depressant medication with some social intervention (housing, employment, social activity, debt, etc) is about as good as we can do at the moment. In England if you get CBT from the NHS you're getting it from someone with a qualification and a professional registration, working for an organisation that has safeguarding policies and their own registration. (Although some English IAPT is over the telephone, or self guided on computer). If you're talking about non-specific counselling then I agree - the evidence for that is weak at best. I agree about Woebot. I haven't seen much evidence and it's worrying that people always overplay the efficacy of an intervention, until we get a good trial to show it's not that brilliant.
- Arkdy 9y ago
  You're right, I probably used the term wrong. I was specifically addressing text based therapy apps such as BetterHelp and Talkspace. [1] https://theoutline.com/post/3462/the-sketchy-world-of-text-therapy?zd=1&zi=ryiax2tn https://theoutline.com/post/3462/the-sketchy-world-of-text-t... [2] https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/19/14004442/talkspace-therapy-app-reviews-patient-safety-privacy-liability-online https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/19/14004442/talkspace-thera...

by Arkdy 9y ago

DanBC 9y ago

Maybe you're using "chat based therapy" to mean something specific, but some talking therapies have excellent evidence (large amounts of robustly analysed data across a wide range of different people with different types of depression) and eg cognitive behaviour therapy is about 60% effective. CBT combined with anti-depressant medication with some social intervention (housing, employment, social activity, debt, etc) is about as good as we can do at the moment. In England if you get CBT from the NHS you're getting it from someone with a qualification and a professional registration, working for an organisation that has safeguarding policies and their own registration. (Although some English IAPT is over the telephone, or self guided on computer). If you're talking about non-specific counselling then I agree - the evidence for that is weak at best. I agree about Woebot. I haven't seen much evidence and it's worrying that people always overplay the efficacy of an intervention, until we get a good trial to show it's not that brilliant.

Arkdy 9y ago
You're right, I probably used the term wrong. I was specifically addressing text based therapy apps such as BetterHelp and Talkspace. [1] https://theoutline.com/post/3462/the-sketchy-world-of-text-therapy?zd=1&zi=ryiax2tn https://theoutline.com/post/3462/the-sketchy-world-of-text-t... [2] https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/19/14004442/talkspace-therapy-app-reviews-patient-safety-privacy-liability-online https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/19/14004442/talkspace-thera...