Eleos Health, Needham, MA, USA.
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 29;14(1):25976. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75269-5.
A well-documented consequence of global warming is increased psychological distress and climate anxiety, but data gaps limit action. While climate anxiety garners attention, its expression in therapy remains unexplored. Natural language processing (NLP) models can identify climate discussions in therapy, aiding therapists and informing training. This study analyzed 32,542 therapy sessions provided by 849 therapists to 7,916 clients in U.S. behavioral health programs between July 2020 and December 2022, yielding 1,722,273 labeled therapist-client micro-dialogues. Climate- and weather-related topics constituted a mere 0.3% of the sessions. Clients exhibiting higher levels of depressive or anxiety symptoms were less likely to discuss weather and climate compared to those with mild or no symptoms. Findings suggest that although global warming is known to impact mental health, these issues are not yet adequately addressed in psychotherapy. This study suggests a potential gap between the documented mental health concerns associated with climate change and their representation in psychotherapy. NLP models can provide valuable feedback to therapists and assist in identifying key moments and conversational topics to inform training and improve the effectiveness of therapy sessions.
全球变暖的一个有据可查的后果是心理困扰和气候焦虑的增加，但数据空白限制了行动。虽然气候焦虑引起了关注，但它在治疗中的表现仍未得到探索。自然语言处理 (NLP) 模型可以识别治疗中的气候讨论，帮助治疗师并为培训提供信息。本研究分析了 2020 年 7 月至 2022 年 12 月期间美国行为健康项目中 849 名治疗师为 7916 名客户提供的 32542 次治疗会议，产生了 1722233 个标记的治疗师-客户微对话。气候和天气相关主题仅占会议的 0.3%。与轻度或无症状的患者相比，表现出更高水平抑郁或焦虑症状的患者不太可能讨论天气和气候。研究结果表明，尽管众所周知，全球变暖会影响心理健康，但这些问题在心理治疗中尚未得到充分解决。本研究表明，与气候变化相关的记录在案的心理健康问题与其在心理治疗中的表现之间存在潜在差距。NLP 模型可以为治疗师提供有价值的反馈，并帮助识别关键时刻和对话主题，以提供培训并提高治疗效果。
