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Robot Therapists: An Evaluation of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots as a Psychotherapeutic Tool for Undergraduate Students with Depression

Description

The recent popularity of ChatGPT has brought into question the future of many lines of work, among them, psychotherapy. This thesis aims to determine whether or not AI chatbots should be used by undergraduates with depression as a form of mental healthcare. Because of barriers to care such as understaffed…

The recent popularity of ChatGPT has brought into question the future of many lines of work, among them, psychotherapy. This thesis aims to determine whether or not AI chatbots should be used by undergraduates with depression as a form of mental healthcare. Because of barriers to care such as understaffed campus counseling centers, stigma, and issues of accessibility, AI chatbots could perhaps bridge the gap between this demographic and receiving help. This research includes findings from studies, meta-analyses, reports, and Reddit posts from threads documenting people’s experiences using ChatGPT as a therapist. Based on these findings, only mental health AI chatbots specifically can be considered appropriate for psychotherapeutic purposes. Certain chatbots that are designed purposefully to discuss mental health with users can provide support to undergraduates with mild to moderate symptoms of depression. AI chatbots that promise companionship should never be used as a form of mental healthcare. ChatGPT should generally be avoided as a form of mental healthcare, except to perhaps ask for referrals to resources. Non mental health-focused chatbots should be trained to respond with referrals to mental health resources and emergency services when they detect inputs related to mental health, and suicidality especially. In the future, AI chatbots could be used to notify mental health professionals of reported symptom changes in their patients, as well as pattern detectors to help individuals with depression understand fluctuations in their symptoms. AI more broadly could also be used to enhance therapist training.
ContributorsSimmons, Emily (Author) / Bronowitz, Jason (Thesis director) / Grumbach, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-05

Simmons_Spring_2023.pdf

Description
The recent popularity of ChatGPT has brought into question the future of many lines of work, among them, psychotherapy. This thesis aims to determine whether or not AI chatbots should be used by undergraduates with depression as a form of mental healthcare. Because of barriers to care such as understaffed…

The recent popularity of ChatGPT has brought into question the future of many lines of work, among them, psychotherapy. This thesis aims to determine whether or not AI chatbots should be used by undergraduates with depression as a form of mental healthcare. Because of barriers to care such as understaffed campus counseling centers, stigma, and issues of accessibility, AI chatbots could perhaps bridge the gap between this demographic and receiving help. This research includes findings from studies, meta-analyses, reports, and Reddit posts from threads documenting people’s experiences using ChatGPT as a therapist. Based on these findings, only mental health AI chatbots specifically can be considered appropriate for psychotherapeutic purposes. Certain chatbots that are designed purposefully to discuss mental health with users can provide support to undergraduates with mild to moderate symptoms of depression. AI chatbots that promise companionship should never be used as a form of mental healthcare. ChatGPT should generally be avoided as a form of mental healthcare, except to perhaps ask for referrals to resources. Non mental health-focused chatbots should be trained to respond with referrals to mental health resources and emergency services when they detect inputs related to mental health, and suicidality especially. In the future, AI chatbots could be used to notify mental health professionals of reported symptom changes in their patients, as well as pattern detectors to help individuals with depression understand fluctuations in their symptoms. AI more broadly could also be used to enhance therapist training.
ContributorsSimmons, Emily (Author) / Bronowitz, Jason (Thesis director) / Grumbach, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-05

Simmons_Spring_2023_Slideshow.pdf

ContributorsSimmons, Emily (Author) / Bronowitz, Jason (Thesis director) / Grumbach, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-05
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The Benefits of Exercise in Treating Anxiety and Depression

Description
Exercise has emerged as an effective way to treat anxiety and depression. This project first examines the early research on this topic so we can provide a historical context for the thesis. We then look into the contemporary context, where we can see how the topic is being talked about…

Exercise has emerged as an effective way to treat anxiety and depression. This project first examines the early research on this topic so we can provide a historical context for the thesis. We then look into the contemporary context, where we can see how the topic is being talked about in modern forms of media. Finally, we apply the research to college students. At the end of the paper, you will find a brochure we made specifically for the college student struggling with anxiety or depression.
ContributorsCristante, Lilia (Author) / Ritter, Hailey (Co-author) / Sturgess, Jessica (Thesis director) / Hoffner, Kristin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05

The Benefits of Exercise in Treating Anxiety and Depression

Description

Exercise has emerged as an effective way to treat anxiety and depression. This project first examines the early research on this topic so we can provide a historical context for the thesis. We then look into the contemporary context, where we can see how the topic is being talked about…

Exercise has emerged as an effective way to treat anxiety and depression. This project first examines the early research on this topic so we can provide a historical context for the thesis. We then look into the contemporary context, where we can see how the topic is being talked about in modern forms of media. Finally, we apply the research to college students. At the end of the paper, you will find a brochure we made specifically for the college student struggling with anxiety or depression.
ContributorsRitter, Hailey (Author) / Cristante, Lilia (Co-author) / Sturgess, Jessica (Thesis director) / Hoffner, Kristin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor)
Created2022-05

The Association Between Bicultural Stress and Mental Health and Alcohol Use Outcomes Among Hispanic/Latinx College Students: The Moderating Role of Familism

Description
Hispanic/Latinx college students are at a greater risk for developing problematic alcohol use and negative mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety because they experience contextual stressors (i.e., financial stress, academic stress, peer pressure) and cultural stressors (i.e., bicultural stress, acculturative stress, discrimination). Bicultural stress may be a risk…

Hispanic/Latinx college students are at a greater risk for developing problematic alcohol use and negative mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety because they experience contextual stressors (i.e., financial stress, academic stress, peer pressure) and cultural stressors (i.e., bicultural stress, acculturative stress, discrimination). Bicultural stress may be a risk factor for depressive, anxiety, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms. The cultural value of familism may play a protective role in Hispanic/Latinx college students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of bicultural stress on depressive, anxiety, and AUD symptoms in first-year Hispanic/Latinx college students, and the role familism plays on moderating the relationship between bicultural stress and the outcomes. The sample was taken from the Pathways to College Health Study (N = 264; Female = 74.9%), which was survey administered via Qualtrics to first-year, Hispanic/Latinx college students at Arizona State University. The survey captured the participants’ levels of bicultural stress, familism, depressive, anxiety, and AUD symptoms. IBM SPSS Statistics was used for data analyses where three hierarchical regression models were run investigating the main effects and interaction effect of bicultural stress and familism. Results showed that higher levels of bicultural stress were associated with higher levels of mental health but were not associated with higher levels of AUD symptoms. Additionally, familism was not significantly associated with mental health or AUD symptoms suggesting familism may not play a substantial role in Hispanic/Latinx college students. There was no interaction found between familism and bicultural stress on the outcomes. These findings may aide in informing Hispanic/Latinx college students, universities, and clinicians on the impact bicultural stress may have on mental health outcomes.
ContributorsGhazoul, Marilyn (Author) / Su, Jinni (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Cruz, Rick (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-12

Coping with Discrimination: Exploring the Mental Health Implications of Critical Reflection Among Asian Americans

Description
Asian Americans are facing unprecedented and growing mental health issues brought by anti-Asian Racism and other forms of hyper-visible oppression (Yellow Horse et al., 2021). In response to racism, one potential solution for bolstering mental health outcomes among Asian Americans is critical reflection. Critical reflection is the process through which…

Asian Americans are facing unprecedented and growing mental health issues brought by anti-Asian Racism and other forms of hyper-visible oppression (Yellow Horse et al., 2021). In response to racism, one potential solution for bolstering mental health outcomes among Asian Americans is critical reflection. Critical reflection is the process through which oppressed and marginalized people critically analyze oppressive social conditions (e.g., racism, sexism, and more) and consider actions they can take to change them (Watts et al., 2011). Recent research suggests that, overall, there is a strong link between critical reflection and the well-being of youth of color (Maker Castro et al., 2022). However, this relationship may vary based on additional factors, such as strategies used to cope with racism-related stress. For instance, Asian Americans with lower critical reflection about racism (e.g., as evidenced by endorsement of colorblind racial ideology, or the belief that racial differences are irrelevant and racism no longer exists) had a higher tendency to use avoidant coping mechanisms to deal with discrimination (Yi et al., 2022; Lewis et al., 2019). Additionally, there is other evidence to support that Asian Americans who held more colorblind racial attitudes experienced less anxiety when challenged with ambiguous discrimination compared to Asian Americans who held less colorblind racial attitudes (Lee, 2016). Overall, the literature suggests the importance of the relationship between critical reflection and mental health. However, studies have yet to quantitatively explore the impacts of critical reflection and strategies to cope with discrimination on mental health outcomes among Asian Americans (Spanierman et al., 2021) and young adults (Maker Castro et al., 2022). The current study seeks to address this gap in the literature by examining the role of strategies to cope with discrimination in the relationship between Asian Americans’ critical reflection and mental health outcomes. It is crucial to explore these factors as Asian American students continue to shoulder prejudice, stereotypes, and systemic racism in professional and educational institutions. We hypothesize that the relationship between critical reflection and mental health will be mediated by the strategies used to cope with discrimination. More specifically, we expect that low levels of critical reflection (as indicated by high levels of color-blind racial attitudes) are related to greater use of internalization, substance use, and detachment strategies to cope with discrimination, which is related to greater endorsement of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Data for this study were drawn from a larger study on college students’ experiences in ethnic studies courses. Participants were 288 Asian Americans recruited from ethnic studies courses at universities in various regions of the United States. During the first two weeks of their ethnic studies course, participants completed an online survey about their racial attitudes, critical consciousness, and psychological well-being. Mediation analyses will be conducted using the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2022) on SPSS version 27. Critical reflection, as measured by participants’ total mean score on the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (Neville et al., 2000; Keum et al., 2018) will be included as the independent variable; subscale scores on the Coping with Discrimination Scale (Wei & Alvarez, 2010) will be mediators; and each subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Henry & Crawford, 2005) will be the dependent variable in separate analyses. Relationships between the study variables and Asian subgroup (i.e., East, Southeast, and South Asian) will also be examined. While analyses are currently ongoing, preliminary findings suggest that strategies to cope with discrimination and mental health outcomes vary between East Asians, Southeast Asians, and South Asians. Additionally, preliminary findings suggest that the use of substance use and detachment to cope with discrimination explains the relationship between low critical reflection and mental health outcomes. Findings have implications for encouraging mental health specialists and educators to have open conversations about racism while helping those who experience discrimination cope in healthy ways. Thus, this research can contribute to improved psychological well-being of Asian American young adults.
ContributorsInocentes, Angeline (Author) / Ahn, Lydia (Thesis director) / Tran, Alisia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor)
Created2023-12

thesis-presentation-3.pdf

ContributorsGhazoul, Marilyn (Author) / Su, Jinni (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Cruz, Rick (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-12

ghazoul_fall_2023.pdf

ContributorsGhazoul, Marilyn (Author) / Su, Jinni (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Cruz, Rick (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-12

The Effects of Digital Technologies on the Body Esteem of College-Aged Women

Description

Dating apps have become commonplace in our society, with popular apps such as Tinder having more than 75 million monthly active users. Dating apps allow people to search for relationships, serious or casual, at any time of the day and greatly expands a person’s dating network. However, dating apps mostly…

Dating apps have become commonplace in our society, with popular apps such as Tinder having more than 75 million monthly active users. Dating apps allow people to search for relationships, serious or casual, at any time of the day and greatly expands a person’s dating network. However, dating apps mostly rely on photographs of their users in order for potential matches to choose to pursue a relationship. So, users are tasked with promoting an appealing online version of themselves to their audience. This research seeks to understand how dating apps affect body esteem, specifically how dating app usage and photo editing correlate to reported body esteem. The findings of this study indicate that the amount of dating apps a person uses correlates to negative body esteem, and that those that reported editing their photographs more than their peers also reported lower body esteem.
ContributorsStahl, Taryn (Author) / Sharabi, Liesel (Thesis director) / Pettigrew, Jonathan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-05