IBM Watson today said it supports Talkspace, a global online therapy platform, in selecting therapists for its clients.
Talkspace, founded in 2012, leverages IBM Watson’s cognitive computing engine to improve the delivery of mental health treatment.
As part of the partnership, Talkspace will be teaching Watson psychology, leveraging its Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology to create a self-learning system that will support the clinical decision making capabilities of therapists treating patients on the Talkspace platform.
Oren Frank, co-founder and CEO of Talkspace, said: “By developing a clinical Q&A system and a therapist decision support system, Watson will be assisting and potentially, revolutionizing the treatment of people suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD and more.”
IBM Watson’s Personality Insights API utilizes linguistic analytics to understand personality and social characteristics based on Big Five needs and Values, from text. Talkspace’s integration of the Personality Insights API will enable therapists with verbal cues from conversations to make more informed decisions about each user.
