An Overview of Artificial Intelligence Applications and Psychology

Psychotherapy endows a sense of control in patients gripped with emotional conflicts; it allows them to handle their reflexes and regain composure through conscious and behavioral alterations. These transformational changes can be brought about by improving their listening skills, observational capacities, creating awareness, and making them more attentive and intervening. Conventional psychotherapy calls for one-to-one sessions during treatment. Considering the increased access to Information Technology (IT) in our daily living, the idea of replacement of human interaction by IT tools appeared. The specialized tools and techniques are employed through the course of therapy, which not only alters but also accentuates their cognitive and practical understanding. The idea of amalgamating these two broad ambits, the complexities of psychology and dynamism of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has gained momentum in recent years. The reluctance of a few psychologists in the past regarding inculcating expert systems into routine practice, because of employment-related insecurities or being swapped by a computer, led to the underutilization of the latent competence of using IT. Primarily, human behavior itself cannot be copied in totality by technology, and AI has a great deal to cover in this regards, but researchers are doing their best to deliver on these premises. Apart from this patient, resistance to this encroachment of technology should be critically investigated for gaining acceptance. This review focuses on how machine intelligence can enhance self-awareness through computer-implemented psychotherapeutic tools.