Lecture 1: Introduction lecture
What is technology in mental health care?
Right now, in Dutch clinics you encounter web and mobile applications, online counseling
and self management. These methods are called eMental Health. An example of such a
tool is Minddistrict. It is being used for online counseling or to publice modules (e-learning).
Mostly the cognitive elements of CBT are put into those modules (homework). This way,
the therapist can also give feedback on homework.
In the Dimence group in the Netherlands Minddistrict is being used very intensively.
Psychologists working here say that you can see more of the clients in their private space.
This way, the session is more real than in the therapy room, which makes it more intimate.
New technology is being created. For example, wearables and virtual reality. Wearables
provides clients with a bio-cue. This works for people who are not in touch with their own
bodies. This way, they can feel what is going on in their own bodies. Another example is a
sleeping robot that helps you fall asleep more quickly. Also, AI could be helpful in the
therapy room, like Chat GPT.
Ofcourse, there are also obstacles. What does not work?
- People are constantly looking at their screens, instead of looking at each other. So,
technology gets in the way of human interaction.
- Also, in many clinics there is only old technology in the room, although technology
constantly renews itself. There is a lot of ‘bad technology’ out there. You have to be
critical of technology to make it work.
- Besides this, some people get really angry because of technology, especially if it
does not work properly.
- Another obstacle is your skills. You really have to blend technology into mental
health care. Being a therapist is a risky job. You have to be trained for it. If you have
to use technology as well, this can be very challenging.
Psychotherapy is a socially constructed relationship in which one person is seen as able to
help others through the process of relating with that person. It is about the relationship.
How do you connect technology with this? Therapists provide suffering clients with a
rationale for their problems, give hope and learn new coping strategies. Where is room for
technology here?
, There are two opposing camps: some people see working with technology as a loss of
time and efficiency, while others see using technology to be as effective as f2f therapy and
it benefits people who would normally never enter therapy. Both camps are quite inflexible.
You either want to do nothing with technology, or you want to do everything with it. It
would be good to build a bridge between the two camps, by providing scientific evidence
and clarification. Maybe we have to talk about a core value first: compassion. Compassion
consists of 5 elements:
1. Recognizing suffering in others;
2. Understanding that it could be you who’s suffering that way (the common humanity
of this suffering);
3. Feeling emotionally connected with the person who is suffering (empathy);
4. Having a method to deal with that feeling (tolerate difficult feelings that may arise);
5. Doing something that diminishes the suffering (helping the person).
What is technology?
Firstly, you would think about your smartphone, which is mostly not very compassionate. At
the lowest level, people use natural phenomena to address what we need and want. For
example, with falling water you can create energy, which is something we need. At the
middle level, we can take natural phenomena to make smartphones. At the complex level,
we create air transport for example.
What is compassionate technology?
It is the way in which humans influence natural phenomena to facilitate and enable both
the recognition and relieving of human suffering. Humans need compassion. We can use
natural phenomena, like empathy and energy, to fulfill this need. When you start seeing
technology this way, it becomes irrelevant that human beings would be ‘warm’ and
technology would be ‘cold’. The main goal is to use technology to recognize and relieve
human suffering through our best human efforts.
“Compassion means recognizing suffering and being motivated to alleviate it. Therefore, we
see compassionate technology as technology that facilitates and enables the recognition
and relieving of human suffering.”
How to implement compassionate technology?
Research shows that compassionate technology can be implemented:
1. Role A - Compassionate technology shows compassion to people. For example, by
robots.
2. Role B - Compassionate technology enhances (self)compassion in people. For
example, reducing anxiety with Headspace.
