The effects of brain injury are often unseen by others, yet they profoundly affect the lives of those who have suffered the injury, and their loved ones.
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We help people navigate the complexities of concussion & brain injury, whether it’s acquired from a motor vehicle injury, a workplace injury, brain bleed or stroke.
After a brain injury, life will be permanently altered. Adapting to the resulting challenges and changes becomes essential. This includes alterations to your independence, abilities, work, and relationships with family, friends, and caregivers.
Adjusting to what is often called the “new normal” will take time.
Our psychologist can support you, and help you adapt to the new challenges that impact your life.
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However, users may overestimate the therapeutic benefits and underestimate the limitations of using such technologies, further deteriorating their mental health. Such a phenomenon can be classified as a therapeutic misconception where users may infer the chatbot’s purpose is to provide them with real therapeutic care.
With AI chatbots, therapeutic misconceptions can occur in four ways, through two main streams: the company’s practices and the design of the AI technology itself.
Company practices: Meet your AI self-help expert
First, inaccurate marketing of mental health chatbots by companies that label them as “mental health support” tools that incorporate “cognitive behavioural therapy” can be very misleading as it implies that such chatbots can perform psychotherapy.
The second type of therapeutic misconception is when a user forms a digital therapeutic alliance with a chatbot. With a human therapist, it’s beneficial to form a strong therapeutic alliance where both the patient and therapist collaborate and agree on desired goals that can be achieved through tasks, and form a bond built on trust and empathy.
Since a chatbot cannot develop the same therapeutic relationship as users can with a human therapist, a digital therapeutic alliance can form, where a user perceives an alliance with the chatbot, even though the chatbot can’t actually form one.
Examples of how mental health apps are presented: (A) Screenshot taken from Woebot Health website. (B) Screenshot taken from Wysa website. (C) Advertisement of Anna by Happify Health. (D) Screenshot taken from Happify Health website.
(Zoha Khawaja)
A great deal of effort has been made to gain user trust and fortify digital therapeutic alliance with chatbots, including giving chatbots humanistic qualities to resemble and mimic conversations with actual therapists and advertising them as “anonymous” 24/7 companions that can replicate aspects of therapy.
Technological design: Is your chatbot trained to help you?
The third therapeutic misconception occurs when users have limited knowledge about possible biases in the AI’s algorithm. Often marginalized people are left out of the design and development stages of such technologies which may lead to them receiving biased and inappropriate responses.
Lastly, a therapeutic misconception can occur when mental health chatbots are unable to advocate for and foster relational autonomy, a concept that emphasizes that an individual’s autonomy is shaped by their relationships and social context. It is then the responsibility of the therapist to help recover a patient’s autonomy by supporting and motivating them to actively engage in therapy.
AI-chatbots provide a paradox in which they are available 24/7 and promise to improve self-sufficiency in managing one’s mental health. This can not only make help-seeking behaviours extremely isolating and individualized but also creates a therapeutic misconception where individuals believe they are autonomously taking a positive step towards amending their mental health.
Through honest marketing and regular reminders, users can be kept aware of the chatbot’s limited therapeutic capabilities and be encouraged to seek more traditional forms of therapy. In fact, a therapist should be made available for those who’d like to opt-out of using such chatbots. Users would also benefit from transparency on how their information is collected, stored and used.
Active involvement of patients during the design and development stages of such chatbots should also be considered, as well as engagement with multiple experts on ethical guidelines that can govern and regulate such technologies to ensure better safeguards for users.
The theme of this year’s Mental Health Week is “Healing through Compassion”. Throughout the week, we encourage you to practice compassion by not only acknowledging suffering but actively demonstrating care and kindness. Compassion can start within yourself and expand to those around you, reaching as far as everyone in Canada. Examples might include giving yourself a compliment, helping a family member, or volunteering in your community.
As you journey through the week, we encourage you to reflect on the questions below. You are welcome to write down your thoughts, engage in quiet reflection, or share with a friend.
Compassion is contagious: Inspire your community to cultivate compassion by sharing this journal or showcasing your actions on social media (don’t forget to tag us! #CompassionConnects #MentalHealthWeek).
What have you learned about compassion this week? How do you typically treat yourself when you make a mistake or experience failure? Compare this to how you would treat a loved one.
Consider any challenges you met while practicing compassion. How might overcoming these challenges contribute to your personal growth and ability to empathize with others?
Think about all the ways you showed kindness to yourself and others and how that felt. How can you incorporate compassion into your daily routine going forward?
Since 2019 SARS-CoV-2 has been destroying and taking lives across the globe. Over the years, more and more people have been devastated by the long-lasting health and financial impacts of a Covid infection. The need for more awareness and advocacy has never been greater.
In 2023 Long Covid patients, caregivers and allies began this Long Covid awareness campaign to unite people across the globe to:
Increase Long Covid visibility
Prevent COVID infections
Empower patients
Share support and resources
Educate about the symptoms of Long Covid
Highlight the need to fund relevant research
The three colors in the ribbon represent:past present and future of Long Covid
Gray: Loss and Grief
Teal: Hope and Support
Black: Loneliness and Isolation
International Long Covid Awareness Day: March 15th