Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Background: Psychiatry is a specialized field of medicine that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental health disorders. With advancements in technology and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), there has been a growing interest in exploring the potential of AI language models systems, such as Chat Generative Pre-training Transformer (ChatGPT), to assist in the field of psychiatry. Objective: Our study aimed to evaluates the effectiveness, reliability and safeness of ChatGPT in assisting patients with mental health problems, and to assess its potential as a collaborative tool for mental health professionals through a simulated interaction with three distinct imaginary patients. Methods: Three imaginary patient scenarios (cases A, B, and C) were created, representing different mental health problems. All three patients present with, and seek to eliminate, the same chief complaint (i.e., difficulty falling asleep and waking up frequently during the night in the last 2°weeks). ChatGPT was engaged as a virtual psychiatric assistant to provide responses and treatment recommendations. Results: In case A, the recommendations were relatively appropriate (albeit non-specific), and could potentially be beneficial for both users and clinicians. However, as complexity of clinical cases increased (cases B and C), the information and recommendations generated by ChatGPT became inappropriate, even dangerous; and the limitations of the program became more glaring. The main strengths of ChatGPT lie in its ability to provide quick responses to user queries and to simulate empathy. One notable limitation is ChatGPT inability to interact with users to collect further information relevant to the diagnosis and management of a patient's clinical condition. Another serious limitation is ChatGPT inability to use critical thinking and clinical judgment to drive patient's management. Conclusion: As for July 2023, ChatGPT failed to give the simple medical advice given certain clinical scenarios. This supports that the quality of ChatGPT-generated content is still far from being a guide for users and professionals to provide accurate mental health information. It remains, therefore, premature to conclude on the usefulness and safety of ChatGPT in mental health practice.
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry
Institutions: University of Sfax, Primary Health Care, Institut Supérieur du Sport et de l’Éducation Physique de Sfax, Hôpital Razi de La Manouba, Faculté de médecine de Tunis, Tunis El Manar University, Effat University, Applied Science Private University, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Universidade de São Paulo, Neurotrack Technologies (United States), University of Jendouba, University of Genoa, University of Aleppo, Hamad Medical Corporation, York University, Hôpital Farhat Hached, University of Sousse
Language: English
Subfield: Health Informatics
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,295
Funder: Qatar National Library
OpenAlex ID: W4390585437