Psychotherapy in social networks could be the next big step in the field of mental health management. The development of a new internet tool called CyberMate by the University of Sydney, it seems that it is precisely that.
According to the university, the team behind the project CyberMate is trying to tailor tracking techniques used by marketing analysts, along with digital data from social media to support interventions for young people suffering from depression and other mental health issues.
The researchers που εργάζονται για το project στοχεύουν να σχεδιάσουν αλγόριθμους που θα δώσει στο online εργαλείο την ικανότητα να ελέγχει τις σελίδες κοινωνικής δικτύωσης ενός νεαρού ατόμου, όπως το Facebook ή το Twitter “διαβάζοντας” και αναλύοντας σχόλια που μπορεί να υποδεικνύουν την δυναμική αυτοτραυματισμών.
CyberMate will then act as a psychotherapist and "talk" to young people, offering options for help or support via email or SMS.
The project, led by Associate Professor Rafael Calvo of the university's School of Engineering and Information Technology, and Professor Ian Hickie of Brain and Mind Research Institute, will receive approximately A$380,000 in funding and will work with the Inspire Foundation to creation of CyberMate.
The university describes CyberMate as a "new automated psychological intervention based on data collected from social networks, personal calendars, natural language processing, and machine learning techniques."
