AI can also act as a psychologist
The app has different levels of operation. The initial one is a chatbot within WhatsApp that people go to and has the ability to detect risks from an “emotional diary”, in which people can write how they feel and Artificial Intelligence is capable of detecting patterns in the conversation.
Delfina Marín, a graduate in Psychology and who works at Mindsurf in the development of technology, explains that at this point in technological development, the platform is capable of establishing more humanized conversations with the purpose of improving people’s well-being.
People “do not only need to be listened to, they also require guidance based on psychology, on empathetic science,” he mentions and highlights that although users always know that they are talking to a chatbot, it already has the ability to break these barriers. between machines and humans.
It also highlights that the chatbot represents an initial stage in psychological treatment, which is why it is comparable to the first-level care that a specialist could provide; However, it quickly detects if it is a high-risk case and that is when it is channeled to a human specialist to address the situation in a personalized way.
A business model based on companies
According to data from the startup Cuéntame, which is also focused on promoting people’s mental health, companies that do not invest in the psychological health of their employees can have up to 15 times more absenteeism and up to six times more employee turnover. staff than those that do.
In this regard, Reynoso says that the approach towards companies is based on the fact that through them they can reach more people and lower the cost for the end user, in addition to helping organizations comply with NOM 035, related to the factors psychosocial risk.
Although compliance with NOM 035 is an issue for which companies look for this type of platforms, the CEO of Mindsurf turns out that there are also advanced companies in terms of well-being, which look for services as a way to add value for their employees. .
Marín highlights another aspect that has helped the incorporation of mental health in companies: age, since those companies with younger employees demand more of the service and are grateful for the mental health benefit they give them, according to data that companies have shared with the platform.
“Older generations commonly have more resistance to receiving mental health care. In one of the companies with larger collaborators we had a series of interviews and we found answers like ‘no, I’m not stressed, but I go out to smoke in the afternoon to relax a little,’” exemplifies Marín.
Regina Athié, CEO of Cuéntame, mentions that the most frequent psychosocial risks among collaborators are: long working hours, workload, lack of control over activities and little or no recognition for performance.
Furthermore, these types of risks, when crossed, increase at least double the rate of cardiovascular problems, the percentage of stress, anxiety and depression, and trigger lower self-esteem in employees, which results in an imbalance between their personal life and labor and may be the cause of quitting your job.
There are also digital alternatives for end users
Reynoso details that although it is a service whose main focus is on companies – they already have 30 corporate clients – they also offer services to end users, through a subscription model that gives access to all the digital resources of the application. , such as chatbot and exercises.
Although there may be detractors of the medical uses of technology, such as psychologist Marín herself, who was initially reticent, a study published in the scientific journal Nature Machine Intelligence highlighted the positive effect of talking to an AI.
In the study, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Arizona interviewed 300 participants, telling some that the chatbot was empathetic, others that it was manipulative, and a third group that it had neutral behavior. Those who thought they were speaking to a thoughtful virtual assistant were more likely to view them as trustworthy.
But if the chatbot is not enough, Mindsurf also has a way to connect with specialists to receive therapy in a completely personalized and remote way, which is quite comfortable for users, who point to the lack of availability as an argument for not go to therapy.