Mental health is essential for any person's complete physical well-being. Mental health includes a sound and peaceful emotional, behavioral, and mental state. In addition, it influences how well a person copes with stress, how they interact with others, and whether or not they choose healthy behaviors. People with a healthy mental state can reach the heights of their potential, learn to deal with the pressures of everyday life, put some effort into it and make significant contributions to the areas where they live.
A mental illness or disorder will affect more than half of the population. Depression and schizophrenia are the most common mental illnesses among Americans. No one factor brings about mental disease. Instead, a variety of things might put someone at risk for developing a mental disorder. It includes early unfavorable life events, memories belonging to other persistent (chronic) medical illnesses, biological causes or chemical abnormalities in the brain, usage of intoxicants like alcohol or drugs, and experiencing sensations of being alone or disconnected from others.
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and behavior disorders are some of the more common mental illnesses in early life. Many mental health problems in children cause them to struggle, from learning to behaving, to dealing with emotions, to coping with daily life. Evaluating children's mental health and identifying mental diseases may be done in various methods. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses surveys to determine the prevalence of positive indicators of children's mental health, the number of children who have suffered from mental disorders, and whether or not they have received treatment. In this kind of survey, parents report on several indications that point to their child's good mental health and any diagnosis their child may have gotten from a healthcare practitioner. This website contains material that gives statistics on signs of healthy mental health in children as well as information regarding the mental health illnesses that are most frequent in children.
Mental health assessment is necessary, and researchers have now identified a new way of evaluation by robots. A study consisted of 28 children and a humanoid robot. They used evaluation criteria, and children responded to robots more accurately than the responses to mental health professionals. At the time of the pandemic, everyone faced mental health problems due to spreading disease, fear of death, no social gatherings, and severe financial issues. Similarly, children also bear mental health issues due to homeschooling, isolation from colleagues and friends, no socialization, and economic pressures. As a result, it causes anxiety and depression in children.
Social assistive robots are more engaging and attractive to children. They can be utilized as mental health coaches for seniors also. Sometimes the children are reluctant to cooperate with health care professionals or parents. Still, with robots, they don't feel ashamed or shy to share their personal information. Instead, they responded openly to the robots—That's why they were more accurate in evaluating the child's mental health. The robot was assigned to perform four activities. Further, robots also assessed the heart rate and eye and head movement by sensors during the session.
The accuracy of the robots did not mean that they would overcome the mental health professionals because there is particular expertise that robots can not surpass. But, robots can be a helping hand to professionals in the psychological evaluation of children.
Edited by: Ayona Mitra
