The evidence suggests otherwise. Internet-based CBT does not seem to be markedly inferior to face-to-face CBT, which is the current gold-standard talk therapy. We really don't have any evidence that the human contact element of psychotherapy is integral or even significant to the effectiveness of the therapy.
We should also be careful to avoid letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. There are many barriers to psychological care, from cost to stigma to simple availability. For the overwhelming majority of people worldwide, it isn't a choice between internet-based CBT or face-to-face psychotherapy - it's a choice between internet-based CBT or no treatment at all. Even if internet-based CBT is significantly inferior, it still has the potential to prevent immense amounts of suffering and death.
Woebot helped me change thought patterns that kept me from getting help and it could do so at any time of the day or night. When going to see your counsellor is too hard Woebot is only a ping away and is free.
Now not to discount your point that indeed sometimes you need words of encouragement or humans to understand complex situations but there is room for both in the grand scheme of things.
There's no reason small children should feel comforted by a stuffed animal, but they do, and it can provide an experience very much like human contact for them.
I went through several bouts of extreme depression, and I might only be alive because I discovered the joy of breaking ceramic plates. I have no idea why the destruction of dinnerware gives me so much joy, but if things ever get too much for me, I just go to target and buy a few dozen dishes. I then take them to my local dump, which has a cement cliff you throw your trash over into the pit. I toss the plates like frisbees, and watch them sale 20 or 30 feet to the cement floor. When they crash they make a tremendous noise, like when a server accidentally drops a bunch of dishes in the kitchen at a restaurant. Except out at the dump the sound is much much louder and cleaner. Sometimes I throw one plate up really high like a clay pigeon and try to hit it with a second plate, which I only have a couple times. I've probably wasted several thousand dollars doing this.
The point of my long ramble is that strange things can save you from depression. There is no reason a chat bot can't work for some people.
Anger always finds a target, and when you don't allow yourself to be angry at someone or something the target becomes yourself and (mostly mental) illness results.
Clearly.
I don't think we'll see effective talk therapy chat bots for quite some time.
I'm very skeptical of apps and products that claim to be based on CBT or "mindfulness" and/or claim to cure various mental illnesses (mostly because these commercial actors use buzzwords rather than conform with the formal definitions used in research), but I don't think we should offhandedly discount all possibilities.
Another possibility is that you can have thoughts which are absolutely reflective of reality but which are causing you distress. These thoughts are not at all useful to your well being, yet you are spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about them anyway. Learning how to become more aware of these thought patterns and how to steer away from them in to more useful thought patterns will help improve your well being over time.
The key in both of these scenarios is learning how to be more aware of your own thoughts and feelings and manage them appropriately.
Maybe a sophisticated bot/system might, generally, be better at rooting an individual's issues. But I would fear that a human experiencing deep emotional stress would be much safer in the psychotherapy environment v.s. with a bot in any random place where that person is most likely alone.
I believe that depression and anxiety may need more unbiased research for the best solutions to be found. Between therapists and pharmaceuticals, there's a lot of vested interest in the status quo.
Therapists can be hugely beneficial. But they are also human, and are subject to their own timidity, attitude, perspective and theories. With books, these are laid bare and are unashamed. An author is sometimes more willing to get in your face about something than a therapist ever would dare.
And for me, that's what I needed most. New ideas, new perspectives, new ways of looking at myself, my emotions, and my relationship with others.
Not knocking seeing a therapist, but one can get comfortable with them and not make the progress you need. Likewise, I know a great deal of people who have had repeated bad experiences with therapists, sometimes to a criminal degree.
However, it doesn't take that many machine learning algorithms or Nvidia GPUs to send someone an email/facebook message/SMS "in the morning" asking them to be in a good mood.
haha oh man that's actually my side project!
I disagree with this, at least for myself. For me, talk therapy is essentially an alternative to 'writing therapy,' where the act of just somehow collecting my thoughts and talking verbally through them (rather than them flashing about in my mind) has more of an impact than the other person accepting whatever it is I am rambling about.
That's not to say anxiety and depression are always lifestyle issues, for many people there is physiological cause that can be treated with medication, but a lot of psychological problems are really life problems.