Generative AI in Mental Health Care: Therapeutic Chatbots, Challenges, and Ethical Safeguards

Dear Colleagues,

Mental health is increasingly recognized as a critical global public health issue. Advances in AI are opening new avenues in mental health care, from AI “chatbot therapists” to predictive models for early intervention. This proposal invites submissions that critically investigate the integration of generative AI in mental health care, with particular attention to therapeutic chatbots, the complex challenges they encounter, and the ethical safeguards required to uphold safety, equity, and professional standards. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Design, implementation, and evaluation of AI-driven therapeutic chatbots for mental health support.
• Regulatory challenges and policy considerations for deploying generative AI in mental health contexts.
• Social implications of integrating generative AI into clinical and non-clinical settings.
• Data privacy, confidentiality, and responsible data use in AI-driven mental health applications.
• Ethical and legal issues of integrating generative AI into clinical and non-clinical settings.
• Algorithmic bias, cultural sensitivity, and inclusivity in AI-enabled mental health systems.
• Barriers to the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of generative AI in mental health care.
• Facilitators and enabling factors that promote effective, equitable, and ethical integration of generative AI in mental health systems.
• Clinical trials assessing safety, effectiveness, and user acceptability of generative AI in mental health care.
• Applications, challenges, and innovations in deploying generative AI for mental health in low-income and resource-limited settings.

This interdisciplinary Topic invites researchers from diverse fields, including psychiatry, psychology, public health, computer science, data science, bioethics, law, sociology, and human–computer interaction, to contribute their perspectives and insights on the role of generative AI in mental health care.

Submissions should present original research, systematic or scoping reviews, case studies, clinical trials, or innovative conceptual frameworks that advance our understanding of generative AI applications in mental health care. Authors are encouraged to address both theoretical and applied dimensions of their work, critically engage with ethical and practical challenges, and provide recommendations for future research, policy, and clinical practice.

Dr. Seyedali Ali Ghahari
Dr. Zubair Ahmed Ratan
Topic Editors