AI-Powered Mental Health Chabot: A Survey

AI-powered mental health chatbots have emerged as an innovative solution to bridge the gap in mental health services, which often face issues like limited accessibility, high costs, and social stigma. By integrating artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, these chatbots engage users in real-time conversations, offering psychological guidance, emotional support, and symptom management. Their ability to provide immediate, anonymous assistance makes mental health resources more accessible to a broader population. These chatbots are embedded in mobile applications, social media platforms, and web-based services, ensuring continuous availability and personalized interactions. Advances in machine learning and sentiment analysis have improved chatbot responses, making them more adaptive and human-like. They serve as virtual therapists, guiding users through structured interventions and coping strategies to manage anxiety, depression, and stress effectively. Despite their advantages, AI-powered mental health chatbots present ethical, technical, and regulatory challenges. Concerns around data privacy, AI bias, and emotional intelligence need to be addressed to enhance their reliability. Moreover, their effectiveness is limited in severe mental health cases, emphasizing the need for a hybrid model that combines AI-driven therapy with human intervention. This survey explores the technologies, applications, therapeutic approaches, limitations, and future prospects of these chatbots.