How AI Is Changing the Face of Addiction Treatments

We’ve all seen what AI can do, from upending the various workplaces of the world, to making entirely new jobs, to creating some wonderful AI art and music. It’s either really cool or really scary depending on where you stand in the world of artificial intelligence. However, what we really haven’t seen is an AI that is being used to seriously help people, until now.

Addiction to any substance or vice is a bad thing, and many people often seek medical assistance to get clean. They can do this because of a bad relapse or overdose that lands them in the hospital, or because family and friends have urged them to get clean. While there are countless rehab centers and other places that are designed to give people the treatment, support, and medical help they need, AI is starting to change that.

So let’s take a look at how artificial intelligence is taking on addiction, and how it is helping people get clean.

Behavioral Recognition

If there is one thing that humans and computers are extremely good at, it is recognizing patterns. Nearly every single addiction has a pattern of more frequent and more severe usage whenever an addict is confronted with a trigger or a situation. 

Additionally, while every addict is different, there are often shared triggers and scenarios that are much more likely to push a person towards relapsing or becoming involved with a substance in the first place. All of these patterns can be placed into addiction management software in order for them to be seen, but how do medical professionals use them?

AI can start to see these patterns, using and gathering online data in order to determine who might be at a higher risk for these problems. They can also predict a patient’s mental, physical, and emotional duress, and that enables professionals to reach out and help the patient calm down and receive the help and interventions they need.

They Can Help People Find Peer Support

There’s an old quote that says “The opposite of addiction is connection”, and it is true. However, often many addicts don’t get that connection (or get the wrong type of connection) in their recovery, and it can cause a lot of problems. However, many AI chatbots can connect users with like minded people who are on the same recovery journey. This allows the people who need help or need to connect with a medical professional right away, to do so without any stigma or issues. 

Other AI apps can help people start and track their treatments, because for many it can be hard to talk about addiction and share the fact that they need help. However some chatbots can encourage users to take healthy steps towards their recovery and health, focusing them on removing the bad habits surrounding their addiction and focusing on the good habits that will make them healthier.

AI Is Making Addiction Easier to Talk about, Which Allows People to Get More Help

At the end of it all, many people need some level of help to handle an addiction, especially a long lasting one. While it can be very hard and embarrassing to walk into an addiction specialist’s office or a small peer group and ask for serious help, asking an AI bot what you should do is something that can be easier to do.

Then people can discuss their problems openly and be directed to the real people who can help them get and stay clean. Simply by opening the floodgates for some conversation, the people who need serious help can get cured, get clean, and can go back to living amazing lives.