# Building Emotional Support Chatbots in the Era of LLMs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.11584 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11584/

## Key facts

- Cited by 62 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 37 of its 69 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Aug 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 37)

- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09685/) (2021)
- [Parameter-Efficient Transfer Learning for NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.00751/) (2019)
- [Prefix-Tuning: Optimizing Continuous Prompts for Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00190/) (2021)
- [Self-Instruct: Aligning Language Models with Self-Generated Instructions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.10560/) (2022)
- [LaMDA: Language Models for Dialog Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.08239/) (2022)
- [A Diversity-Promoting Objective Function for Neural Conversation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1510.03055/) (2015)
- [DialoGPT: Large-Scale Generative Pre-training for Conversational Response Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.00536/) (2019)
- [LLaMA-Adapter: Efficient Fine-tuning of Language Models with Zero-init Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16199/) (2023)
- [MultiWOZ -- A Large-Scale Multi-Domain Wizard-of-Oz Dataset for Task-Oriented Dialogue Modelling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.00278/) (2018)
- [Intrinsic Dimensionality Explains the Effectiveness of Language Model Fine-Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.13255/) (2020)
- [DailyDialog: A Manually Labelled Multi-turn Dialogue Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.03957/) (2017)
- [LLaMA-Adapter V2: Parameter-Efficient Visual Instruction Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.15010/) (2023)
- [Using Large Language Models to Simulate Multiple Humans and Replicate Human Subject Studies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.10264/) (2022)
- [Towards a Human-like Open-Domain Chatbot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.09977/) (2020)
- [Measuring the Intrinsic Dimension of Objective Landscapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.08838/) (2018)
- [Towards Emotional Support Dialog Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.01144/) (2021)
- [Toward Controlled Generation of Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.00955/) (2017)
- [A Computational Approach to Understanding Empathy Expressed in Text-Based Mental Health Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.08441/) (2020)
- [Emotional Chatting Machine: Emotional Conversation Generation with Internal and External Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.01074/) (2017)
- [Challenges in Building Intelligent Open-domain Dialog Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.05709/) (2019)
- [Prompting and Evaluating Large Language Models for Proactive Dialogues: Clarification, Target-guided, and Non-collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.13626/) (2023)
- [MIME: MIMicking Emotions for Empathetic Response Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.01454/) (2020)
- [PsyQA: A Chinese Dataset for Generating Long Counseling Text for Mental Health Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.01702/) (2021)
- [MoEL: Mixture of Empathetic Listeners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.07687/) (2019)
- [Exploring the Impact of Instruction Data Scaling on Large Language Models: An Empirical Study on Real-World Use Cases](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.14742/) (2023)
- [MISC: A MIxed Strategy-Aware Model Integrating COMET for Emotional Support Conversation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.13560/) (2022)
- [MojiTalk: Generating Emotional Responses at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.04090/) (2017)
- [Improving Multi-turn Emotional Support Dialogue Generation with Lookahead Strategy Planning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.04242/) (2022)
- [Control Globally, Understand Locally: A Global-to-Local Hierarchical Graph Network for Emotional Support Conversation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.12749/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 62)

- [Plug-and-Play Policy Planner for Large Language Model Powered Dialogue Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.00262/) (2023)
- [EmoLLMs: A Series of Emotional Large Language Models and Annotation Tools for Comprehensive Affective Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08508/) (2024)
- [Can Large Language Models be Good Emotional Supporter? Mitigating Preference Bias on Emotional Support Conversation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.13211/) (2024)
- [Towards Human-centered Proactive Conversational Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.12670/) (2024)
- [On the Multi-turn Instruction Following for Conversational Web Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.15057/) (2024)
- [Large Language Models in Mental Health Care: a Scoping Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02984/) (2024)
- [Affective Computing in the Era of Large Language Models: A Survey from the NLP Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.04638/) (2024)
- [User Modeling in the Era of Large Language Models: Current Research and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11518/) (2023)
- [Understanding the Impact of Long-Term Memory on Self-Disclosure with Large Language Model-Driven Chatbots for Public Health Intervention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.11353/) (2024)
- [ESC-Eval: Evaluating Emotion Support Conversations in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.14952/) (2024)
- [Simulation-Free Hierarchical Latent Policy Planning for Proactive Dialogues](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.14584/) (2024)
- [Mapping Caregiver Needs to AI Chatbot Design: Strengths and Gaps in Mental Health Support for Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregivers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.15047/) (2025)
- [TPE: Towards Better Compositional Reasoning over Conceptual Tools with Multi-persona Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16090/) (2023)
- [Both Matter: Enhancing the Emotional Intelligence of Large Language Models without Compromising the General Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10073/) (2024)
- [Self-assessment, Exhibition, and Recognition: a Review of Personality in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17624/) (2024)
- [Crisp: Cognitive Restructuring of Negative Thoughts through Multi-turn Supportive Dialogues](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.17238/) (2025)
- [The Good, The Bad, and Why: Unveiling Emotions in Generative AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11111/) (2023)
- [EmoDynamiX: Emotional Support Dialogue Strategy Prediction by Modelling MiXed Emotions and Discourse Dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08782/) (2024)
- [Script-Based Dialog Policy Planning for LLM-Powered Conversational Agents: A Basic Architecture for an "AI Therapist"](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15242/) (2024)
- [SocialSim: Towards Socialized Simulation of Emotional Support Conversation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.16756/) (2025)
- [You Never Know a Person, You Only Know Their Defenses: Detecting Levels of Psychological Defense Mechanisms in Supportive Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.15601/) (2025)
- [Empathy Through Multimodality in Conversational Interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.04777/) (2024)
- [Structured Dialogue System for Mental Health: An LLM Chatbot Leveraging the PM+ Guidelines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.10681/) (2024)
- [From Rational Answers to Emotional Resonance: The Role of Controllable Emotion Generation in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.04075/) (2025)
- [HamRaz: A Culture-Based Persian Conversation Dataset for Person-Centered Therapy Using LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05982/) (2025)
- [What is Stigma Attributed to? A Theory-Grounded, Expert-Annotated Interview Corpus for Demystifying Mental-Health Stigma](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.12727/) (2025)
- ["I Like Sunnie More Than I Expected!": Exploring User Expectation and Perception of an Anthropomorphic LLM-based Conversational Agent for Well-Being Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.13803/) (2024)
- [Stephanie: Step-by-Step Dialogues for Mimicking Human Interactions in Social Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.04093/) (2024)
- [The Future of Cognitive Strategy-enhanced Persuasive Dialogue Agents: New Perspectives and Trends](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.04631/) (2024)
- [From Conversation to Automation: Leveraging LLMs for Problem-Solving Therapy Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.06101/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The integration of emotional support into various conversational scenarios presents profound societal benefits, such as social interactions, mental health counseling, and customer service. However, there are unsolved challenges that hinder real-world applications in this field, including limited data availability and the absence of well-accepted model training paradigms. This work endeavors to navigate these challenges by harnessing the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs). We introduce an innovative methodology that synthesizes human insights with the computational prowess of LLMs to curate an extensive emotional support dialogue dataset. Our approach is initiated with a meticulously designed set of dialogues spanning diverse scenarios as generative seeds. By utilizing the in-context learning potential of ChatGPT, we recursively generate an ExTensible Emotional Support dialogue dataset, named ExTES. Following this, we deploy advanced tuning techniques on the LLaMA model, examining the impact of diverse training strategies, ultimately yielding an LLM meticulously optimized for emotional support interactions. An exhaustive assessment of the resultant model showcases its proficiency in offering emotional support, marking a pivotal step in the realm of emotional support bots and paving the way for subsequent research and implementations.