As a psychiatrist, I believe that the results of this pilot study are promising and offer hope for the use of virtual therapy to mitigate issues related to mental health care access, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While virtual therapy cannot replace the human connection offered by traditional therapy, it can serve as an essential interim solution for patients awaiting treatment and as a bridge to help fill the gap between supply and demand in mental health care. The use of AI voice-based virtual coaches, such as Lumen, has the potential to increase accessibility to evidence-based treatments, especially in vulnerable communities with limited access to mental health care. Further research is needed to determine the efficacy of Lumen compared to human-coached problem-solving therapy, but the results of this study are encouraging and provide a foundation for future studies in this area.
Dr Emily Rose Johnson, MD, Cure of Mind