# Responsible Evaluation of AI for Mental Health

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.00065 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.00065/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 87 of its 180 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 Jan 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 87)

- [Inherent Trade-Offs in the Fair Determination of Risk Scores](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.05807/) (2016)
- [Towards Emotional Support Dialog Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.01144/) (2021)
- [Social Biases in NLP Models as Barriers for Persons with Disabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.00813/) (2020)
- [A Computational Approach to Understanding Empathy Expressed in Text-Based Mental Health Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.08441/) (2020)
- [Cognitive Reframing of Negative Thoughts through Human-Language Model Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.02466/) (2023)
- [Roleplay-doh: Enabling Domain-Experts to Create LLM-simulated Patients via Eliciting and Adhering to Principles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.00870/) (2024)
- [Cactus: Towards Psychological Counseling Conversations using Cognitive Behavioral Theory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.03103/) (2024)
- [Facilitating Self-Guided Mental Health Interventions Through Human-Language Model Interaction: A Case Study of Cognitive Restructuring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15461/) (2023)
- [HealMe: Harnessing Cognitive Reframing in Large Language Models for Psychotherapy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05574/) (2024)
- [Knowledge-enhanced Mixed-initiative Dialogue System for Emotional Support Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.10172/) (2023)
- [Culture is Not Trivia: Sociocultural Theory for Cultural NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.12057/) (2025)
- [PAL: Persona-Augmented Emotional Support Conversation Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09235/) (2022)
- [PsyDT: Using LLMs to Construct the Digital Twin of Psychological Counselor with Personalized Counseling Style for Psychological Counseling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13660/) (2024)
- [D4: a Chinese Dialogue Dataset for Depression-Diagnosis-Oriented Chat](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11764/) (2022)
- [Ask an Expert: Leveraging Language Models to Improve Strategic Reasoning in Goal-Oriented Dialogue Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17878/) (2023)
- [Empowering Psychotherapy with Large Language Models: Cognitive Distortion Detection through Diagnosis of Thought Prompting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.07146/) (2023)
- [PsychoGAT: A Novel Psychological Measurement Paradigm through Interactive Fiction Games with LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12326/) (2024)
- [Improving the Generalizability of Depression Detection by Leveraging Clinical Questionnaires](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.10432/) (2022)
- [Task-Adaptive Tokenization: Enhancing Long-Form Text Generation Efficacy in Mental Health and Beyond](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.05317/) (2023)
- [EmoAgent: Assessing and Safeguarding Human-AI Interaction for Mental Health Safety](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.09689/) (2025)
- [AnnaAgent: Dynamic Evolution Agent System with Multi-Session Memory for Realistic Seeker Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.00551/) (2025)
- [Symptom Identification for Interpretable Detection of Multiple Mental Disorders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11308/) (2022)
- [The Colorful Future of LLMs: Evaluating and Improving LLMs as Emotional Supporters for Queer Youth](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.11886/) (2024)
- [Understanding the Therapeutic Relationship between Counselors and Clients in Online Text-based Counseling using LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.11958/) (2024)
- [Do Large Language Models Align with Core Mental Health Counseling Competencies?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.22446/) (2024)
- [Gendered Mental Health Stigma in Masked Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.15144/) (2022)
- [Gender and Racial Fairness in Depression Research using Social Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10550/) (2021)
- [Identifying Moments of Change from Longitudinal User Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.05593/) (2022)
- [When LLMs Meets Acoustic Landmarks: An Efficient Approach to Integrate Speech into Large Language Models for Depression Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.13276/) (2024)
- [Lived Experience Not Found: LLMs Struggle to Align with Experts on Addressing Adverse Drug Reactions from Psychiatric Medication Use](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.19155/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [PeerPen: AI-Assisted Writing for Online Mental Health Peer Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.14886/) (2026)
- [From Pattern Recognizers to Personalized Companions: A Survey of Large Language Models in Mental Health](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.25186/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Although artificial intelligence (AI) shows growing promise for mental health care, current approaches to evaluating AI tools in this domain remain fragmented and poorly aligned with clinical practice, social context, and first-hand user experience. This paper argues for a rethinking of responsible evaluation -- what is measured, by whom, and for what purpose -- by introducing an interdisciplinary framework that integrates clinical soundness, social context, and equity, providing a structured basis for evaluation. Through an analysis of 135 recent *CL publications, we identify recurring limitations, including over-reliance on generic metrics that do not capture clinical validity, therapeutic appropriateness, or user experience, limited participation from mental health professionals, and insufficient attention to safety and equity. To address these gaps, we propose a taxonomy of AI mental health support types -- assessment-, intervention-, and information synthesis-oriented -- each with distinct risks and evaluative requirements, and illustrate its use through case studies.