Intelligent machines and mental health in the era of COVID-19

Psychiatriki. 2021 May 28. doi: 10.22365/jpsych.2021.015. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe idea of a network of small devices that would be able to connect each other, appeared in the early 80s. In a prophetic article, Mark Weiser,1 described such a connection, that it is now known under the term of Internet of Things (IoT). In a broadest sense, the term IoT encompasses everything connected to the internet, but it is increasingly being used to define objects that "talk" to each other, creating a network from simple sensors to smartphones and wearables connected. During the recent years this network of communicating devices has been combined with other technological achievements, and particularly with the Virtual Reality (VR)2 and the Artificial Intelligence (AI).3 The emerge of COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, resulted to the poor response and healthcare failures of many countries globally.4 One of the main reasons for such a failure, was the inability of accurate data collection from different sources. Apparently, it was the first time, humanity realized the need for massive amounts of heterogeneous data to be collected, interpreted, and shared. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, several innovators and public authorities are looking to leverage IoT tools to reduce the burden on the healthcare systems.5 Mental health is one of the areas that seems to benefit the most of such technologies. A significant decrease of the total amount of ER visits and a dramatic increase of internet ...
Source: Psychiatriki - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: research