Computers in psychotherapy: An overview

This paper reviews the literature dealing with the role of computers in psychiatric interviewing, and with the role of the computer as a "patient" or as a "psychotherapist". The research indicates that computers can present questions to patients in a flexible way, that patients find the interactions acceptable, and that patients are often more willing to reveal personal information to the computer during an initial interview, than to a clinician. The problems associated with the computer as a "patient" or a "therapist" are very complex and only a few demonstrations exist that the computer can simulate these roles under very limited conditions. Future advances will depend upon making explicit the strategies of interaction involved in psychotherapy as well as on the capacity of computers to adequately interpret natural language inputs.