Extracting common processes across psychotherapies through AI
INTRODUCTION: Psychological treatments are effective in addressing mental disorders. However, they often remain confined within two primary limitations: diagnostic categories and theoretical frameworks. This study aimed to investigate how artificial intelligence could help transcend these boundaries. METHOD: We recruited 125 psychotherapists. For each psychotherapeutic approach, we asked them to describe: (1) the proposed processes underlying psychopathology; (2) the techniques employed in treatment; and (3) potential factors contributing to resistance. RESULTS: By applying topic modeling techniques on the psychotherapists' discourse, we identified 30 topics related to psychopathological or psychotherapeutic processes (e.g., emotional regulation). Notably, none of these topics were exclusively associated with a single psychotherapeutic approach, suggesting that psychotherapies share common underlying processes. CONCLUSION: Artificial Intelligence techniques can help to identify shared processes across various psychotherapeutic approaches. This proof of concept suggests that further research utilizing these methods is warranted.
Authors
- Arnaud Carré (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9914-5565)
- Yannick Morvan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1068-1033)
- Lucia Romo
- Coline Bouyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9502-5141)
- Thierry Kosinski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2589-6838)
- Fanny Marteau-Chasserieau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6229-4070)
- Céline Baeyens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2422-4378)
- Robert Courtois (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3557-5264)
- Catherine Bortolon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5118-7827)
- Rodolphe Saur
- Eva Fourel
- G. Tapia
- Chrystel Besche-Richard
- Barthelemy Serres
- Wissam El-Hage
- Alexis Vancappel
Institutions
- Université de Tours (FR)
- Université de Bordeaux (FR)
- Inserm (FR)
- Institut Universitaire de France (FR)
- Université de Lille (FR)
- Université Paris Nanterre (FR)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Tours (FR)
- Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (FR)
- Centre de recherche en Epidémiologie et Santé des Populations (FR)
- Bordeaux Population Health (FR)
- Centre Hospitalier Andrée Rosemon (GF)
- Services déconcentrés d'appui à la recherche Val de Loire (FR)
- Laboratoire d'Informatique Fondamentale et Appliquée de Tours (FR)
- Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
- Institut catholique de paris (FR)
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- L Encéphale
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.encep.2026.01.003
- Primary Topic
- Mental Health via Writing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00