Introduction
Throughout the 20th century mental health has long been stigmatised and under-addressed, however, it was only during the latter decades of the 20th century, as we gazed out into the final frontier with hopes of putting a man on the moon, did we turn our attention to our own inner workings and mental spaces. The World Health Organization Website (WHO, n.d.) defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." NHS England (NHS, n.d.), defines mental health as “The 5 steps to mental wellbeing”, by incorporating these into your daily life, they may help you feel more positive with the ability to get the most out of life. Every year on October 10th, the global community comes together to observe World Mental Health Day. This day is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health issues and mobilising efforts to support mental well-being, the theme for 2023 is “Mental Health is a Universal Human Right”. However, despite greater awareness and increased initiatives, there still exists numerous barriers to effective mental health care, such as limited resources and funding, the NHS often faces budget constraints, and as Dr Esmira suggested, there is a shortage of trained professionals especially in more rural areas. For ethnic minorities there is the language barrier as well as cultural differences which can hinder effective communication in therapy.
Background
As awareness and concern for mental health grew, so too did the field of cognitive research. This field addresses a wide spectrum of human cognition, encompassing aspects such as perception, learning, memory, thinking, and emotion. Eysenck and Keane (1997, p. 1) highlight that, while diverse in its areas of study, cognitive psychology is unified by a particular approach. This approach, drawing an analogy between the mind and the digital computer, is termed the information-processing approach. This methodology stands as the predominant paradigm in cognitive psychology, as emphasised by Khun's 1970 work, cited by Eysenck and Keane (1997, p1).
The foundations for this project were laid over six decades ago. 1956 marked a pivotal moment for cognitive psychology, challenging behaviourism and signalling the Cognitive Revolution. In this period, theories emphasising mental states and processes gained prominence. At a pivotal meeting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Chomsky presented his theory of language (Chomsky, 1956, cited in Eysenck, M. W. & Keane, M. T., 1997, p1), while Newell & Simon introduced their influential computational model, the General Problem Solver (Newell, Shaw, & Simon, 1958; 1960, cited in Eysenck, M. W. & Keane, M. T., 1997, p1). Simultaneously, the first systematic exploration of concept formation from a psychological perspective was also reported (Bruner, Goodnow, & Austin, 1956, cited in Eysenck, M. W. & Keane, M. T., 1997, p1).
In the summer of 1956, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, a group of scientists also met for the now famous Dartmouth Workshop, (Dartmouth, n.d.) this conference, where the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) was first coined would become widely accepted as the seminal event in which the foundational concepts of the field were established, and with that, both the disciplines of cognitive science and cognitive psychology were born.
Aaron T Beck who is known as the modern day father of cognitive therapy (CT) and who’s work began to take shape in the early 1960s when he was a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted multiple studies to explore the psychopathology of depression and developed the cognitive model of depression, which eventually evolved into cognitive therapy and later, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), (Beck, J. 2021). Beck's ground-breaking work in CBT has since evolved into various forms, including MBCBT, a therapeutic approach that integrates mindfulness strategies with traditional CBT. Meanwhile, AI, fuelled by ML and NLP, has experienced exponential growth and permeation into diverse fields, creating tools and technologies that were unimaginable at the time of its conception.
It is a convergence of these two distinct paths—AI and CBT—that has paved the way for a new paradigm in cognitive therapy and mental health care. Harnessing the potential of these two powerful tools, we have developed a user-friendly, voice-enabled device that can recognise and respond to users’ mental health questions in real-time. Through empathetic, intuitive interactions, mood tracking, voice enabled thought journalling, and a tailored MBCBT-guided 8-week course, the device endeavours to provide immediate and personalised support for mental wellbeing.