mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Facilitating Self-Guided Mental Health Interventions Through Human-Language Model Interaction: A Case Study of Cognitive Restructuring

arXiv 2310.15461 ↗First posted 24 Oct 2023cs.HC cs.CLcited by 53

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Abstract (arXiv)

Self-guided mental health interventions, such as "do-it-yourself" tools to learn and practice coping strategies, show great promise to improve access to mental health care. However, these interventions are often cognitively demanding and emotionally triggering, creating accessibility barriers that limit their wide-scale implementation and adoption. In this paper, we study how human-language model interaction can support self-guided mental health interventions. We take cognitive restructuring, an evidence-based therapeutic technique to overcome negative thinking, as a case study. In an IRB-approved randomized field study on a large mental health website with 15,531 participants, we design and evaluate a system that uses language models to support people through various steps of cognitive restructuring. Our findings reveal that our system positively impacts emotional intensity for 67% of participants and helps 65% overcome negative thoughts. Although adolescents report relatively worse outcomes, we find that tailored interventions that simplify language model generations improve overall effectiveness and equity.

Key facts. Cited by 53 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 16 of its 98 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 24 Oct 2023.

Builds on

16 of 98 references.

References · 16

  1. 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
  2. 2019The Curious Case of Neural Text Degenerationcited by 2,881
  3. 2019A Survey on Bias and Fairness in Machine Learningcited by 1,911
  4. 2020Language (Technology) is Power: A Critical Survey of "Bias" in NLPcited by 951
  5. 2016Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-like biasescited by 894
  6. 2020A Computational Approach to Understanding Empathy Expressed in Text-Based Mental Health Supportcited by 182
  7. 2022Evaluating Human-Language Model Interactioncited by 90
  8. 2023Cognitive Reframing of Negative Thoughts through Human-Language Model Interactioncited by 77
  9. 2021Towards Facilitating Empathic Conversations in Online Mental Health Support: A Reinforcement Learning Approachcited by 75
  10. 2022Human-AI Collaboration Enables More Empathic Conversations in Text-based Peer-to-Peer Mental Health Supportcited by 68
  11. 2022Inducing Positive Perspectives with Text Reframingcited by 31
  12. 2022Modeling Motivational Interviewing Strategies On An Online Peer-to-Peer Counseling Platformcited by 20
4 more
  1. 2022Gendered Mental Health Stigma in Masked Language Modelscited by 17
  2. 2020Engagement Patterns of Peer-to-Peer Interactions on Mental Health Platformscited by 16
  3. 2020The Effect of Moderation on Online Mental Health Conversationscited by 12
  4. 2023Response-act Guided Reinforced Dialogue Generation for Mental Health Counselingcited by 9

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 19; 2025: 20; 2026: 14.

53 papers.

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  1. 2024A Roadmap to Pluralistic Alignmentcited by 175
  2. 2025Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providerscited by 67
  3. 2024A Computational Framework for Behavioral Assessment of LLM Therapistscited by 61
  4. 2025SynthesizeMe! Inducing Persona-Guided Prompts for Personalized Reward Models in LLMscited by 26
  5. 2024Towards a Personal Health Large Language Modelcited by 25
  6. 2024MindScape Study: Integrating LLM and Behavioral Sensing for Personalized AI-Driven Journaling Experiencescited by 24
  7. 2024The Typing Cure: Experiences with Large Language Model Chatbots for Mental Health Supportcited by 23
  8. 2024PATIENT-Psi: Using Large Language Models to Simulate Patients for Training Mental Health Professionalscited by 19
  9. 2024Transforming Wearable Data into Personal Health Insights using Large Language Model Agentscited by 19
  10. 2025Understanding the LLM-ification of CHI: Unpacking the Impact of LLMs at CHI through a Systematic Literature Reviewcited by 16
  11. 2024Contextual AI Journaling: Integrating LLM and Time Series Behavioral Sensing Technology to Promote Self-Reflection and Well-being using the MindScape Appcited by 14
  12. 2025AI Chatbots for Mental Health: Values and Harms from Lived Experiences of Depressioncited by 13
38 more
  1. 2025Mapping Caregiver Needs to AI Chatbot Design: Strengths and Gaps in Mental Health Support for Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregiverscited by 13
  2. 2024CBT-Bench: Evaluating Large Language Models on Assisting Cognitive Behavior Therapycited by 12
  3. 2025A Survey of Large Language Models in Psychotherapy: Current Landscape and Future Directionscited by 12
  4. 2025Preference Learning Unlocks LLMs' Psycho-Counseling Skillscited by 9
  5. 2025Mental Health Impacts of AI Companions: Triangulating Social Media Quasi-Experiments, User Perspectives, and Relational Theorycited by 8
  6. 2025Balancing Caregiving and Self-Care: Exploring Mental Health Needs of Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregiverscited by 7
  7. 2026PAIR-SAFE: A Paired-Agent Approach for Runtime Auditing and Refining AI-Mediated Mental Health Supportcited by 7
  8. 2026Computational Hermeneutics: Evaluating generative AI as a cultural technologycited by 7
  9. 2024Detection and Positive Reconstruction of Cognitive Distortion sentences: Mandarin Dataset and Evaluationcited by 6
  10. 2024Applying and Evaluating Large Language Models in Mental Health Care: A Scoping Review of Human-Assessed Generative Taskscited by 6
  11. 2024Understanding Communication Preferences of Information Workers in Engagement with Text-Based Conversational Agentscited by 6
  12. 2025Substance over Style: Evaluating Proactive Conversational Coaching Agentscited by 6
  13. 2025Linguistic Comparison of AI- and Human-Written Responses to Online Mental Health Queriescited by 6
  14. 2024ExploreSelf: Fostering User-driven Exploration and Reflection on Personal Challenges with Adaptive Guidance by Large Language Modelscited by 5
  15. 2025Interpersonal Theory of Suicide as a Lens to Examine Suicidal Ideation in Online Spacescited by 5
  16. 2025Building Benchmarks from the Ground Up: Community-Centered Evaluation of LLMs in Healthcare Chatbot Settingscited by 5
  17. 2024Large Language Model Agents for Improving Engagement with Behavior Change Interventions: Application to Digital Mindfulnesscited by 3
  18. 2024The Interaction Layer: An Exploration for Co-Designing User-LLM Interactions in Parental Wellbeing Support Systemscited by 3
  19. 2025Position: Beyond Assistance -- Reimagining LLMs as Ethical and Adaptive Co-Creators in Mental Health Carecited by 3
  20. 2024A Generic Review of Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Cognitive Behavioral Therapycited by 2
  21. 2024Improving and Assessing the Fidelity of Large Language Models Alignment to Online Communitiescited by 2
  22. 2026Responsible Evaluation of AI for Mental Healthcited by 2
  23. 2026LLUMI: Improving LLM Writing Assistance for Mental Health Support with Online Community Feedbackcited by 2
  24. 2024AI-Enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Deep Learning and Large Language Models for Extracting Cognitive Pathways from Social Media Textscited by 1
  25. 2025Evaluating Reasoning LLMs for Suicide Screening with the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scalecited by 1
  26. 2025AI-Augmented LLMs Achieve Therapist-Level Responses in Motivational Interviewingcited by 1
  27. 2026coTherapist: A Behavior-Aligned Small Language Model to Support Mental Healthcare Expertscited by 1
  28. 2026Designing KRIYA: An AI Companion for Wellbeing Self-Reflectioncited by 1
  29. 2026A Checklist for Trustworthy, Safe, and User-Friendly Mental Health Chatbotscited by 1
  30. 2026Generative Experiences for Digital Mental Health Interventions: Evidence from a Randomized Studycited by 1
  31. 2024Therapy as an NLP Task: Comparing LLMs and Human Peers Behaviors in CBT Sessionscited by 0
  32. 2025When LLM Therapists Become Salespeople: Evaluating Large Language Models for Ethical Motivational Interviewingcited by 0
  33. 2025AI-guided digital intervention with physiological monitoring reduces intrusive memories after experimental traumacited by 0
  34. 2025humancompatible.detect: a Python Toolkit for Detecting Bias in AI Modelscited by 0
  35. 2025Lived Experience in Dialogue: Co-designing Personalization in Large Language Models to Support Youth Mental Well-beingcited by 0
  36. 2026Intersectional Fairness via Mixed-Integer Optimizationcited by 0
  37. 2026Structure Matters: Evaluating Multi-Agents Orchestration in Generative Therapeutic Chatbotscited by 0
  38. 2026AI Content Moderation in Therapy Conversationscited by 0

50 most cited of 53 All 53 (JSON)