[angelicgoldfish05]

Just watched this short clip ( MSN Entertainment - "Could Texting be the Future of Therapy?") about the future of therapy - scary! What if your therapist isn't human!?

I also remember hearing a piece on NPR about this... Clever Bots - Radiolab - where they talk about ELIZA, "a program designed in the 1960s to mimic responses as though it were a therapist. At first, ELIZA's creator Joseph Weizenbaum thought the idea of a computer therapist was funny. But when his students and secretary started talking to it for hours, what had seemed to him to be an amusing idea suddenly felt like an appalling reality."

What do you all think about this possibility for the future of therapy? I personally do not ever believe the very real and human therapists I've had will ever be replacable by machines or robots. For the same reason I like reading a real paperback book instead of a novel on kindle, or how I don't like to use cruise control, which does not and never will, be able to take in and adjust for all variables.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has tried virtual therapy and your experiences. Just for general discussion and interest/curiosity. And also what your thoughts are about robot therapists in the supposed 'future of therapy'.

[Perna]

Eliza is still around in various forms: Eliza Chat bot We didn't have pictures and real Web until the 90's, most people did not have computers until then either, usually just at work. The games on the computer were all text ones where you had to use your imagination, kind of like reading, if you know what that is

I've done online therapy a couple times before video was very available, just working with email. I'm sure there will be a lot more choices in the future, something for everyone. The way college courses are sometimes done now, interactive with a just a teacher-person checking in every now and then or peer discussions, etc.

[angelicgoldfish05]

Originally Posted by Perna

Eliza is still around in various forms: Eliza Chat bot We didn't have pictures and real Web until the 90's, most people did not have computers until then either, usually just at work. The games on the computer were all text ones where you had to use your imagination, kind of like reading, if you know what that is

I've done online therapy a couple times before video was very available, just working with email. I'm sure there will be a lot more choices in the future, something for everyone. The way college courses are sometimes done now, interactive with a just a teacher-person checking in every now and then or peer discussions, etc.

Wow that Eliza Chat Bot is unreal. I think the text games were before my generation.. I grew up in the atari era Thank goodness there was reading otherwise I would not have an imagination left. As it is, TV has severly imposed on this imagination because I watched so much as a kid. Probably why I'm in therapy lol (kidding)

Yeah, I guess there are positive things about it like you say - how there will be something for everyone. I think the younger generations especially will feel quite at ease with the virtual therapy situation. Thanks for your reply Perna

Another here from the Atari era.

I don't think anything like this could replace the human connection either.
But I have noticed that texting with my therapist sometimes has the same effect as being there with him. There's been times where it's proved to be very soothing to me...

Hopefully we will always have a choice. It seems like Japan has pioneered the 'robot movement' and have all kind of applications that replace human beings, so maybe we'll have a chance to see how it works there first.

[CantExplain]

It's not so impressive when you know how it's done...

[growlycat]

Talk about the ultimate Turing test!!

Real or not real? I think I've had some human ones that wouldn't pass!

[Parley]

Back in the early to mid 90's my brother in law had a therapy program or whatever it was so I got on it and played for a bit. I started asking it about its coding program and it kept going back to me and after about 10 minutes of this ring around the rosie the program started spitting up all the coding. It freaked me out because I didn't know a great deal about it, I was just playing around. thought I broke it lol

It was fun but I'm an expert at emotional disconnection and I doubt talking to a computer will help me find my connection.

[stopdog]

I don't see it as a problem. Therapists are not acting as humans when they are playing therapist. It is not real.

[Perna]

Stopdog, I sometimes feel sad reading your posts, when they remind me of Harry Harlow's poor rhesus monkeys. Why don't you do online or video therapy instead of spending time and the additional money going to your women in person?

[stopdog]

Originally Posted by Perna

Stopdog, I sometimes feel sad reading your posts, when they remind me of Harry Harlow's poor rhesus monkeys. Why don't you do online or video therapy instead of spending time and the additional money going to your women in person?

I don't like to type that much and the camera adds 10 pounds.

I actually don't understand the monkey comparison. I am not sad about it.

[Perna]

No, I know you are not sad but your characterizations of therapists as not human means, to me, that you miss out on some warmth in relationships and don't know/care.

[boredporcupine]

I have heard of some computer programs that are meant as self-help tools or to be used alongside therapy. Mood Gym is one of them. There are also a lot of apps for phones that can be used for things like thought records (for CBT) or skills reminders for DBT. I think those are great ideas, but in terms of a robot or program as a therapist, I don't know if that could substitute for an actual human connection. Personally, I would have a hard time believing someone cared if the someone was a computer!

Edit: I did talk to the Eliza bot for a while, and while hilarious, it's a TERRIBLE therapist!

But therapists don't care like other humans (reportedly) do, that's the whole point.

But what do I know about humans, or caring. I think a robot therapist sounds like a brilliant idea - unfortunately we are very far from it being a reality.

[boredporcupine]

Originally Posted by Mastodon

But therapists don't care like other humans (reportedly) do, that's the whole point.

As a therapist-in-training myself, I find this completely inaccurate.

[CantExplain]

Originally Posted by boredporcupine

As a therapist-in-training myself, I find this completely inaccurate.

Ah, but you're not fully trained. We'll make a zombie of you yet!

[browncat]

I do online therapy, and I at least hope my therapist is a real person We Skype just using text not video. It is not my first therapy experience, but I think he is great. I think you feel free to say whatever is on your mind, and I have shared some things with him that I have never told another human being! I don't think I would like to talk to a robot or not a real person, that would feel empty to me. I doubt robots will ever replace a human in that regard, at least not for me!!

[stopdog]

Originally Posted by Perna

No, I know you are not sad but your characterizations of therapists as not human means, to me, that you miss out on some warmth in relationships and don't know/care.

My real relationships are fine and warm and all. I am not going to pretend to have some sort of one with a stranger who has set the game up the way therapists do.

[blur]

omigosh, that eliza chat box is too funny to mess with. the first sentence where she asks me how she can help me got cut off but here is me messing with it. cracked me up that when i paused to do something else it got a little pi$$y:



here is me trying out a disorder on it. too funny!



i really can't imagine a robot ever doing real therapy. i've read that over 80% of communication is nonverbal.

[stopdog]

Originally Posted by blur

i really can't imagine a robot ever doing real therapy. i've read that over 80% of communication is nonverbal.

But there are online therapists who only operate by email or chat and the parties never see each other.

[CantExplain]

Originally Posted by blur

i really can't imagine a robot ever doing real therapy. i've read that over 80% of communication is nonverbal.

That's not the case for all patients. Some (like myself at the start of therapy) have great difficulty with the non-verbal aspects. Also, some therapists (like Madame T) are profoundly inscrutable.

I can believe it helps the therapist if she can observe the patient. (Although I am said to be pretty inscrutable myself.)

[blur]

stop & CE, are you guys saying you wouldn't mind a robot T? i'm not really following you. i am aware some Ts work online or through email where you never see or talk to them. personally, i think therapy is best done face-to-face but it can incorporate all sorts of communication including writing, music, art, etc.

[CantExplain]

I don't think I'm ready for a robot T just yet. I know too much about the limitations of computers.

And yet I could imagine patients like Stopdog who would be more comfortable with a predictable and dispassionate interlocutor.

Plus, maybe you could adjust the settings? My experience of human Ts is that they are very set in their ways and don't adapt well to patients with different needs.