In England as a whole there are twice as many low intensity therapy sessions as high intensity sessions. But there are staggering local variations. In my own neck of the woods in Cheshire and Merseyside there are 8 low intensity sessions for 1 high intensity session. It is difficult to believe that my fellow-Scousers are so resilient that they rarely need to avail themselves of high intensity treatment. [ the data for all 40 Integrated Care Boards, ICBOs, can be found using this link, courtesy of Paul Atkinson https://x.com/paulananke/status/2004513683251286505?s=46]
The Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board Talking service offer online talking therapy via the text based digital service leso and the digital service Silver Cloud. Psychological well-being practitioners staff the gateway to NHS Talking Therapies. These are the least qualified staff and it seems likely that they find what they’re looking for, that is problems which fall within their competence, and which they believe they have the competence to address. Resulting in a skewed profile. They’re not taught to make reliable diagnoses. This results in a trivialization of client’s mental health problems, which suggests that they are an appropriate target for AI therapy. This is likely to be warmly welcomed by the developers of the Chatbots and service providers. Redundancy around the corner. Professional bodies such as BPS and BABCP need to “smell the coffee”, But there is no sign of them doing so anytime soon.
The American Journal of Psychotherapy has just published a pilot study of a comparison between an artificial intelligence therapist and a human therapist in delivering text based cognitive behavioural therapy. Outcome was judged on the cognitive therapy rating scale and not by recovery from any disorder. The authors suggest that it may complement human-based therapy. The real-world has it seem receded.
Dr Mike Scott