The John XXIII Foundation developed last week the event “Ally or threat? Artificial Intelligence and mental health in the child and youth population”, aimed at professionals, teachers and families at the headquarters of SumaMente, the Foundation’s Psychological and Social Wellbeing Center. During the almost two hours that the event lasted and which aimed to address technological development and the prevention of mental health in the child and adolescent population, the speakers highlighted several conclusions.
Mamen Gomezpedagogue and director of the Psychological and Social Wellbeing Center (SumaMente) of the Foundationhas been in charge of moderating the colloquium, which began with the presentation of the new Juan XXIII Foundation campaign, “We have gone crazy” launched on the occasion of Mental Health Day.
Next, Javier Arroyo, general director of the entity He gave a few words of welcome to all attendees and highlighted the great work being done at SumaMente, where in just one year more than 2,000 therapy sessions have been held. In relation to the topic of the talk, Javier Arroyo pointed out: “Artificial Intelligence is here to stay; it is a well of knowledge, with great opportunities, but also risks that we must analyze.”
For its part, Javier Urraclinical director and president of the RECURRA-GINSO Governing Commission, began his intervention by critically reflecting on the concept of artificial intelligence itself and its impact on mental health. “Intelligence cannot be artificial, it must involve consciousness, emotion, guilt, doubt and even nostalgia.” He also warned that we are experiencing a true crisis of empathy, where screens have replaced face-to-face conversations. Along these same lines, Urra highlighted the importance of returning to paper: “reading on paper allows you to reflect and anticipate, reading on the screen only offers information. It is one thing to have a high level of information and another thing is to have a high level of knowledge.”
During the meeting, the danger of turning AI into a substitute for a professional figure and the impact of this technology on mental health was insisted on.
Timanfaya Hernandezdean of the Official College of Psychology of Madrid, highlighted that “the question is why children and adolescents resort to artificial intelligence as a tool that will solve their problem” which, in her words, “reflects a feeling of emptiness and shows the difficulty of young people in transferring what happens to them in their closest circle.” Hernández also highlighted the similarity between the compulsive use of AI with other patterns of dependence: “AI has very similar characteristics to other circumstances that generate dependencies: it offers immediate symptomatic relief. You can ask it 24/7 and receive an answer that makes me feel understood and not judged.”
Finally, Jose Antonio Luengocoordinator of the Mental Health Training and Research Unit of the Madrid Higher Institute of Innovation and Training, stated: “Children and adolescents are free to use AI. When a 9 or 12 month old baby already has a phone within his reach, we are introducing him to a context that generates anomalies.” Luengo also insisted on the danger of turning AI into a substitute for a professional figure.
He also raised an interesting debate on the ethical and legislative level: “Europe is the most guaranteeing in terms of legislation in this matter, but its standards always lag behind technology”, demanding joint work between companies, professionals and administrations to focus on ethics and not on economics.
In general, the experts agreed that Artificial Intelligence can be a valuable tool, as long as it is used in an ethical, regulated and complementary way, but without replacing the human bond that occurs in the processes of psychological and therapeutic support.
