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OwnMyMind
Autonomous psychodynamic psychotherapy without barriers, supported by AI

Challenge

According to the World Health Organization, over the last few decades, the global mental health landscape has worsened considerably. In this context, and despite efforts to expand access to mental health care such as psychotherapy, factors such as stigma, lack of access, cost, or the unsuitability of psychotherapists present challenging obstacles to its universality.

Solution

The OwnMyMind project proposes an innovative approach to address these challenges through the development of a virtual psychotherapist. This conversational agent, which will be supported by large language models (LLMs), will follow a psychodynamic approach, centered on the user's full knowledge, in order to achieve meaningful psychotherapeutic results. During the project, the latest techniques in the field of LLMs dedicated to memory and context management of models (including nonverbal communication) will be explored in order to create therapeutic relationships between the virtual psychotherapist and the user.
In addition to research dedicated to ensuring the therapeutic alignment of the solution, the project will also investigate and integrate mechanisms that enable the security alignment of the LLM component for responsible use in psychotherapy, ensuring safe and ethical behavior of the agent.

Objectives, Activities and Results expected / achieved

Objective 1: Develop a conversational agent that functions as an autonomous virtual psychodynamic psychotherapist, capable of intervening effectively and immediately in crisis situations.
Objective 2: Investigate and implement advanced memory and context management mechanisms for LLMs, with the aim of building and maintaining a continuous and personalized therapeutic relationship between the virtual agent and the user.
Objective 3: Develop and integrate security and responsible use mechanisms for the conversational agent, ensuring that interactions in a therapeutic context are safe and aligned with ethical best practices.
Objective 4: Incorporate nonverbal behavior into virtual therapeutic interactions, increasing the agent's sensitivity to users' emotional needs and improving the effectiveness of the intervention.

Project Reference

CENTRO2030-FEDER-01472900

Funding


Intervention Region

Center of Portugal

Total Investment

686.738,40

IPN Investment

372.509,60

Total Eligible

686.738,40

IPN Eligible

372.509,60

EC Funding – Total

542.634,23

EC Funding – IPN

316.633,16

Duration

36 Months

Start Date

2025-05-01

End Date

2028-04-30

Approval Date

2025-02-14

Consortium

BTK, Lda
Instituto Pedro Nunes

Website

https://www.ownmymind.pt/

Keywords

Mental Health;
LLMs;
Artificial inteligence.
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