An Affectively Aware Virtual Therapist for Depression Counseling

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability in the world effecting more than 350 million people. Unlike other treatable epidemics that effect our society however, less than half of those suffering receive treatment. To address this issue, researchers have developed computer based cognitive behavioral therapy systems to let patients receive therapeutic care from the comfort of their own home. While effective, these computer-based interventions are still inferior to traditional face-to-face therapy sessions with human counselors. This discrepancy is due, in part, to the inability of these systems to detect and react to a user’s emotional state during therapy sessions. We describe an affectively-aware virtual therapist for depression counseling, whose design is based on theories of emotions in psychotherapy, along with the results of a pilot study exploring the efficacy of this approach. Author