Comparing Human and AI Therapists in Behavioral Activation for Depression: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study
The results suggest that LLMs may generate high-quality therapeutic single-turn responses that integrate clinical knowledge with empathetic communication. The findings hint at LLMs' potential as valuable tools in mental health care, although further clinical trials are needed to evaluate their performance in ongoing therapeutic relationships and clinical outcomes.
Authors
- Kai G. Kahl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8530-0605)
- Elisabeth Hildt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1314-5527)
- Wolfgang Nejdl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3374-2193)
- Uwe Hadler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8122-7572)
- Inka Napiwotzki
- Julian Laue
- Flora Caldarone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1312-0450)
- Maximilian Idahl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1866-6436)
- Haithem Amrani
Institutions
- Leibniz University Hannover (DE)
- Illinois Institute of Technology (US)
- Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (DE)
- L3S Research Center (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- JMIR Formative Research
- Published
- 2025-09-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.2196/78138
- Primary Topic
- Mental Health Research Topics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00