ieso's Dr Andy Blackwell, Group Chief Science & Strategy Officer and Stephen Freer, EVP Clinical, spoke to MIT Technology Review to discuss how using AI to examine the language used by therapists could lead to more people feeling better and staying better.

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MIT wrote “What’s crucial is delivering the right words at the right time. Blackwell and his colleagues at ieso are pioneering a new approach to mental-health care in which the language used in therapy sessions is analysed by an AI. The idea is to use natural-language processing (NLP) to identify which parts of a conversation between therapist and client—which types of utterance and exchange—seem to be most effective at treating different disorders.

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The aim is to give therapists better insight into what they do, helping experienced therapists maintain a high standard of care and helping trainees improve. Amid a global shortfall in care, an automated form of quality control could be essential in helping clinics meet demand.”

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MIT Technology Review also reference ieso’s latest Psychotherapy Research paper, which explored clients’ utterances and discovered “change-talk active” responses and “change-talk exploration” were associated with greater odds of reliable improvement and engagement.

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Read the full article here: AI is making better therapists

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Read the latest research paper here: Understanding the relationship between patient language and outcomes in internet-enabled cognitive behavioural therapy