Breakthrough AI Program Rivals Human Therapy for Anxiety

According to a recent study conducted by ieso Digital Health in association with the NHS and NIHR BioResource, the outcomes of its AI-driven digital program for generalized anxiety were on par with those of conventional human-led therapy.

In the UK, there are an estimated 1.2 million people waiting for mental health services from the NHS. The ieso Digital Programme intends to give quick access to psychological help, freeing up therapist time and extending their reach—it can require up to eight times less therapist hours per patient. For the 301 million individuals who suffer from anxiety disorders globally, a scalable solution to mental healthcare is to combine AI technology with human support.

The six-module course offered by the ieso Digital Programme, which was created by skilled therapists utilising the most recent advancements in AI, is led by a conversational bot. It uses personalized, in-the-moment interactions to teach users anxiety management techniques based on the proven methods of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the gold standard for treating a variety of common mental health issues. The programme builds on ieso’s over ten years of expertise providing one-to-one written therapy through the NHS by combining an app for AI-delivered content with a human support service.

82% of participants who utilized the program for up to nine weeks demonstrated a clinically substantial decrease in anxiety symptoms, which can include worry, insomnia, and exhaustion, in ieso’s seminal study involving 300 volunteers with mild to severe anxiety. Significant progress was made even for those with severe anxiety, and more than half had an average reduction in symptoms in less than two weeks. When compared to meticulously matched NHS patient data (n = 767), the algorithm demonstrated an equivalent level of efficacy to human-led therapy. Remarkable enhancements in daily functioning and long-lasting advantages observed a month post-completion highlight the program’s capacity to considerably reduce the mental health load on individuals, healthcare systems, and the economy.

The human support service kept the participants motivated and tracked their symptom progression while they interacted with the application at their convenience. Only 15% of individuals used the help of having a therapist on hand, despite the fact that 94% of participants thought this was important.

Victoria, a 34-year-old study participant, stated: “It wasn’t just a faceless online course.” It’s comforting to know that real people are monitoring your account and responding to your concerns, so you know that someone was there if you have any.It felt like someone was giving me a helping hand with [the programme]. I felt like I was being picked up off the ground and told, “You can do this; you have this.”

Given their proven track record of providing NHS patients with high-quality tailored therapy and integrating their in-house clinical, scientific, and AI knowledge to understand “what works” in therapy, ieso is unique in its ability to design safe and effective AI-driven programs. They accomplish this by examining a globally-leading outcomes-linked therapy dataset that includes more than 135,000 patient hours of de-identified typed therapy (more than 750,000 hours total). The safety of the content created by the AI-driven conversational agent in ieso’s digital program was also solidly demonstrated using this dataset.

Paul serves as a Lived Experience Partner with ieso, giving his user-centered understanding of mental illness and recovery to help shape the study. Paul says, “We need to treat people as individuals since different people have various mental health issues. For those who might find it difficult to use traditional forms of therapy, digital technology provides new options. Crucially, the ieso program continues to provide human support, ensuring that participants are never left on their own. People may now receive assistance more quickly and have a more customized experience, ensuring they get what they need when they need it most.

Dr Clare Palmer, PhD, Scientific Director of the study said: “The results far exceeded our expectations for what could be achieved through combining this technology with human support. We’ve seen one of the largest effects on anxiety reduction in any study, with benefits that persist for at least a month, and we were even able to help people with severe levels of anxiety. The study’s exciting results represent a major step forward on the journey to scalable mental health support to meet the growing global demand.” 

“Combining digital interventions with human-delivered care leverages the strengths of both approaches. In this model, digital tools deliver evidence-based mental health content at scale, with human support to assess the clinical presentation, provide accountability to increase engagement, and intervene when clinical need escalates. A blended model with both digital and human-delivered care can address the need for scalable mental health support while ensuring that treatment is safe, engaging, and effective.”- Dr. Sara Johansen, MD, Director of the Digital Mental Health Clinic, Stanford University School of Medicine8

Emily Marshall, Clinical Director of the study added: “As a therapist working to make a difference for over fifteen years, I understand the impact of safe, effective, and engaging mental health support for people experiencing some of their most vulnerable moments. By using expert therapist knowledge and the latest AI advances, ieso’s digital programme could transform mental health by making high-quality, evidence-based care available to everyone who needs it – and crucially when they want it and need it most. Increasing patient choice with evidenced options for those who wish to access their mental health support in a different way can free up therapist time, and enable them to reach more patients.”

Online ads, ieso’s typed-therapy service, and the GLAD study cohort of individuals inside the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) BioResource were used to find volunteers for the study.

IESO digital program variations are being tested in the US with payers and health systems. In late 2024, the initiative will be launched with a few chosen partners in the UK.

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