Social Robots for Supporting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Diagnosis and Treatment

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disorder with profound public health impact due to its high prevalence, chronic nature, accompanying functional impairment, and frequently occurring comorbidities. Early PTSD symptoms, often observed shortly after trauma exposure, subside in most of individuals initially expressing them approximately one month following the trauma. While the past several decades of PTSD research have produced substantial knowledge regarding the mechanisms and consequences of this debilitating disorder, the diagnosis and available treatments for PTSD still face significant challenges in the field of mental health due to cost and availability. Here, we discuss how therapeutic inventions for PTSD involving social robots can offer meaningful opportunities for combating some of the challenges present in treating PTSD. We consider the challenges that PTSD diagnosis and treatment face, and suggest several avenues via which social robotics might offer assistance. As the application of social robotics-based interventions in the treatment of mental health conditions is only in its infancy, it is vital that careful, well-controlled research is run to evaluate their efficacy in this domain, but we are hopeful that robotics-based solutions will advance the quality, specificity and scalability of care for this debilitating disorder.