
Artificial Intelligence in the Behavioral Health Professions
Author: Frederic G. Reamer
Page Count: 128
ISBN: 978-0-87101-627-0
Published: 2025
Price range: $37.94 through $39.94
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The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing in the field of behavioral health in clinical, administrative, advocacy, policy, and educational settings. Behavioral health practitioners are using AI to provide and document clinical services, predict clinical outcomes, empower clients to self-monitor, provide crisis intervention, supervise clinicians, detect plagiarism, and write grant applications.
Alongside these advances, the use of AI ushers in a new era of ethical issues and risk management threats. Ethical practice requires that behavioral health professionals address key AI-related challenges, including AI’s impact on informed consent; privacy and confidentiality; client surveillance; transparency; clinical errors; algorithmic bias and unfairness; and plagiarism, fraud, dishonesty, and misrepresentation.
Rather than being overwhelmed by these fast-moving developments, Artificial Intelligence in the Behavioral Health Professions invites you to be informed. A foremost expert in ethics, Reamer uses real-world examples and dozens of case studies to provide insights into the ways in which behavioral health professionals are using AI, the associated ethical and risk management issues, protocols for ethical use of AI, and state-of-the-art strategies that will protect clients and practitioners alike.
Whether you enthusiastically embrace AI or are wary of its dangers, this technology is here to stay. As with any cutting-edge innovation, it will take time to fully comprehend both its opportunities and its pitfalls. At the very least, behavioral health practitioners must be active participants in these ongoing efforts and dialogues and be cognizant of the impact of AI on practice. After all, awareness and participation are at the center of what ethical practice requires.
Chapter 1: Artificial Intelligence in the Behavioral Health Professions: An Overview
- History and Nature of Artificial Intelligence
- Chatbots
- Social Robots
- Machine Learning and Translation
- Search Engines
- Predictive Analytic Tools
- Speech-to-Text Tools
- Text Recognition
- Speech Generation
- Image Recognition and Generation
- Research Tools
- Uses of Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral Healthcare
- Clinical Services
- Documentation
- Administrative Tasks and Functions
- Research and Program Evaluation
- Education, Training, and Supervision
- Conclusion
Chapter 2: Ethical Issues in the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral Health
- Informed Consent and Client Autonomy
- Absence of Coercion and Undue Influence
- Capacity to Consent
- Consent to Specific Procedures
- Valid Forms of Consent
- Right to Refuse or Withdraw Consent
- Adequate Information
- Consent for Remote Delivery of Services
- Privacy and Confidentiality
- Responding to Subpoenas and Court Orders
- Transparency
- Client Misdiagnosis
- Client Abandonment
- Client Surveillance
- Plagiarism, Dishonesty, Fraud, Deception, and Misrepresentation
- Algorithmic Bias and Unfairness
- Conclusion
Chapter 3: Best Practices in the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral Health
- Understanding Core Ethics Concepts—The Roots of Best Practices
- Compassion
- Discernment
- Trustworthiness
- Integrity
- Conscientiousness
- Autonomy
- Nonmaleficence
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Creating Ethics-Based Governing Principles
- Establishing a Digital Ethics Steering Committee
- Convening Diverse Focus Groups
- Subjecting Algorithms to Peer Review
- Conducting AI Simulations
- Developing Clinician-Focused Guidance for Interpreting AI Results
- Developing Rigorous Communication and Training Protocols
- Maintaining a Log of AI Results
- Testing Algorithms
- Monitoring Algorithmic Decision Processes
- Conclusion
Chapter 4: Risk Management and Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral Healthcare
- Concept of Risk Management: A Brief Overview
- Standards of Care and AI
- Procedural Standard of Care
- Privacy Audits
- Malpractice Insurance
- Evolution of Ethics-Informed Standards
- Organizational Guidelines for Employees
- Conclusion
Conclusion
- Ethical Effects
- Ethical Governance and Stewardship
- Data Policy
- Environment and Ecosystems
- Gender
- Culture
- Education and Research
- Health and Social Well-Being
References
Index
About the Author
Earn 3.0 CEUs for reading this title! For more information, visit the Social Work Online CE Institute.