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Post by Admin on Sept 1, 2015 9:12:42 GMT -4
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Post by Patricia Odierno on Sept 1, 2015 15:17:55 GMT -4
It's very interesting that the computer program was 100% successful in determining who would get schizophrenia just by them speaking. It really could be a break through in medicine. This could lead to diminishing the number of psychotic symptoms and episodes by initiating early treatment and therapy. Although the sample size was small, and the study should definitely be replicated using a much larger sample size, it's still an astounding finding. Although the computers can obviously do wonders, they should never replace psychiatrists and therapists. But together, with both the recommendation from the computer and the psychiatrist, patients can get a jump start on treatment and potentially have a better quality of life. One area that the computer program can be tweaked is definitely taking into account volume of speech, as well as other aspects that a psychiatrist can pick up on. But overall, with the combination of psychiatrists and this computer program, early diagnosis of schizophrenia is more likely, which should improve the quality of life for these patients.
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Post by Karishma Nathani on Sept 2, 2015 17:38:20 GMT -4
This article is extremely interesting in that a computer proved to be more accurate than a psychiatrist in being able to predict psychosis or schizophrenia strictly based on how a person is speaking. While it is true that disorganized thought, thought blocking, and other erratic speech patterns can be evidence of schizophrenia, I would think that behavior, facial expressions, and being able to observe and pick up on a patient's actions and gestures would also aid in that diagnosis, which are things that a computer is not able to pick up on. It seems that by using both computers and psychiatrists together, the diagnosis of schizophrenia could be made earlier and treatment could be started earlier, which would be an amazing improvement in the field. Although it would still be interesting to further study this by having computers pick up on a patient's tone and intonation to delve deeper into their thought process and have a more well-rounded picture of what's going on.
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Post by Raven Price on Sept 2, 2015 22:23:54 GMT -4
Columbia University has come out with a computer program that will tell whether an at-risk youth for Schizophrenia will develop psychosis over a two-and-a-half year period or not. They claim that this can be done with one hundred percent accuracy. If this computer program can be tested by other psychiatrists and continues to show a hundred percent accuracy, then this computer program will start to become a staple in psychiatrist offices. This will keep people with Schizophrenia from becoming psychotic and needing to be admitted into the hospital because the psychosis can be medically treated before there is time for it to take into effect. I do find myself wondering about the limitations of the program as far as language goes. For example, let’s say that there is a non-English speaker that is using this computer program. The speech pattern will be different than that of a native speaker. They may stumble over a lot of the words and the sentences may not run smoothly. I wonder if the computer will be able to pick up this difference in the speech and know that this person is not on the edge of a psychotic break and that they are just having trouble with the language. Lafrance, Adrienne. (2015). Computers Can Predict Schizophrenia Based on How a Person Talks. The Atlantic. Retrieved from www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/speech-analysis-schizophrenia-algorithm/402265/
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Alicia Capilla Crespillo
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Post by Alicia Capilla Crespillo on Sept 2, 2015 22:34:12 GMT -4
It is really interesting what new technologies can contribute to the field of medicine and this article could open a potential new field of psychiatry focused on early detection of mental disorders. Consequently, if we can detect a disease before it occurs we will be able to treat and minimize the severity of the illness and maybe in a few years even prevent it. Nowadays, doctors are able to predict schizophrenia of at-risk youths with an accuracy of 79%. A new study from Columbia University is able to do with a 100% accuracy the trick, a computer does all the work. This method uses speech-analysis techniques that yield much better results than biomarkers or neuroimaging methods. The trick is something called “jarring disruptions”, a minimal semantic coherence that was found to be the most significant characteristic to determine if a youth will develop psychosis. By using this technique in at-risk youth, physicians could begin preventive treatments to reduce severity or even delay the onset of psychosis. This new study shows that the way we talk is a direct representation of our mind and who knows what other secrets our speech hides.
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Post by Jason YH Hsieh on Sept 2, 2015 22:35:23 GMT -4
This articles gave me a great insight about the advantages of computer in medicine. By having patient speak, the computer is able to pick up erratic speech pattern without a holistic view such as patient’s facial expression, appearance, physical behavior, & etc.., which it can accurately diagnose that the patient has schizophrenia. However, if the experiment could expand more such as sample size, including more patient’s background, medication they are taking, & etc… for sure the result will be more reliable and more convincing. If they can elaborate the experiment, then this could be a great breakthrough in the psychiatric medicine field. And due to the advantage of the computer’s capability to pick up some early schizophrenic symptoms in patient’s speech, it could decreases the episodes or severity of schizophrenia by introducing early therapy. Although computer is a great tool but they don’t look the patient in a holistic view, thus, I would say in combination with psychiatrist which will diagnose schizophrenic patient more accurately and yield a higher sensitivity.
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Post by Mario F Vigil on Sept 2, 2015 22:47:25 GMT -4
This recent finding could provide a good foundation and an important tool for future development of more objective clinical tests in the psychiatry field to help doctors identify those people most likely to develop schizophrenia. As stated on this article, language can provides a unique connection into the mind, but it is still just one aspect of human behavior and cannot substitute for a close observation and interaction with the patient. Especially when this speech analyses didn’t take in consideration the modulation of voice and this can be key for psychiatrists during their diagnosis process. Overall, I think this voice computer analysis can be an important tool that could be included during the initial psychiatry evaluation but can never be a substitute from a formal diagnosis of schizophrenia or any mental heath condition.
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Post by Daman Pannu on Sept 2, 2015 23:42:27 GMT -4
I’m amazed that with just a transcript of an interview a computer program was able to predict which test subjects were going be diagnosed with schizophrenia, without even taking volume or intonation into consideration. It seems like an exciting route for further research, with a much larger sample size. I do wonder if other any of the other test subjects were diagnosed with schizophrenia after the study was complete. The five subjects that tested positive were diagnosed relatively soon after the study started and am curious as to how early the program can accuracy predict schizophrenia. I’m also curious as to whether early detection makes much of a difference in treatment of schizophrenia.
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Post by Joebert Bedoya on Sept 3, 2015 0:40:41 GMT -4
It is always a breakthrough when new technology arises or being discovered especially in the field of medicine. Medicine is very dynamic and it continues to evolve in pursuit of better understanding, prevention, and treatment of diseases and even its rehabilitation phase. A computer program that can predict Schizophrenia based on how a person talks is a leap forward indeed. It can be a very useful tool but I have some reservations to this new technology. What will happen if all clinicians start using this program? Will their probability, validity, and reliability still be high? So far, the result is promising with 100% accuracy(n=34). Have they considered other factors such as language barriers? ESL(English as Second Language) patients will tend to stutter or have a hard time finding the right words with right grammar, or patients that have speech and mental disabilities or have medical conditions? Fatigue and stress can alter concentration and thought processes. The cohorts must probably pre-selected in a controlled setting or environment. What about those Southern people that have very heavy accents or people that speaks Ebonics? This is a budding technology and I am sure that eventually they can make adjustments overtime but I am not so sure about the outcome with large cohorts. As Cecchi had pointed out, the computer analysis at the center of the study didn't include any acoustic features like intonation, cadence, and volume, all of which could be meaningful in interpreting a person's pattern of speaking and thinking. I guess it will take time for further research and development before it can applied nationwide as an effective tool.
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Post by Ramez Ghanbari on Sept 3, 2015 0:47:51 GMT -4
It is an interesting study at Columbia University showing that a computer-based algorithm was able to identify ‘jarring disruptions” in young individuals’ speech patterns, and with 100% accuracy predict the subjects who were to develop schizophrenia in the near future. Interestingly, the computer program did a better job than psychiatrists! Although we may not see such tools in everyday clinical practice, these findings emphasize on the importance of the use of powerful tools to identify susceptible subjects years prior to full-blown clinical manifestation of schizophrenia. Thus, one may initiate preventive measures in these vulnerable subjects, both with pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, to minimize the impact of this debilitating disorder.
It would be very interesting to develop similar algorithms to predict and identify other psychiatric disorders such as MDD in otherwise healthy subjects.
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Claire-Louise Young
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Post by Claire-Louise Young on Sept 3, 2015 1:21:49 GMT -4
Computers may be used instead of psychiatrist...Not so fast. One of the most pertinent grievance of the psychiatry is that the diagnosis is not always so clear. It takes a person to use their "gut feeling" which will tap into the world of emotion, human interaction, and patient behaviour to determine a patients diagnosis and prognosis. A computer cannot replace that, not at this time time. Though the article states that the computer may pick up speech patterns that a psychiatrist may miss, I think a deep look will show that it is only in certain situations that it may be so. The sample size was only 34 at risk youth. I would like to a see a larger sample size across age groups and cultures.
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Post by Jennifer Banarez on Sept 3, 2015 6:20:45 GMT -4
The technology presented in this article, although in its early stages does offer a promising new avenue for identifying future schizophrenic patients. The 100% accuracy this computer based program achieved makes it a great asset for doctors to use. However, it should only confirm suspicion, not be the sole tool by which the diagnosis is made. The program lacks the ability to measure particular features such as intonation, cadence and volume which are all important in identifying speech patterns. It is also important to note that while disorganized speech is a major hallmark of schizophrenia there are also other typical findings including paranoid delusions, auditory hallucinations and lack of insight to their disease. According to DSM criteria it is not only disorganized thought but at least one other typical finding must be present for at least a month for the diagnosis of schizophrenia to be made. For example an at risk patient may not present with the hallmark disorganized speech at the time of testing but have one of the other typical features. Therefore patient education is key when using this testing method. It should be emphasized that the program may confirm future schizophrenia but a negative test does not rule it out completely. In conclusion the program should only be used in addition to the traditional interviewing and counseling. As the study continues to grow hopefully it's accuracy remains the same and many patients will be able to benefit from it making schizophrenia a preventable condition
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Post by ivania on Sept 3, 2015 7:30:14 GMT -4
It is a very interesting article. I was amazed with the advanced technology. We are living in a world of computers! It is very interesting to see how this computer program can identify how people are talking, evaluate the coherence of their thoughts and determine if that person may be likely to develop schizophrenia later in their lives. The program can identify one important aspects in the diagnosis of schizophrenia such as disorganized speech. I still wonder how reliable this computer program can be, for example in people that are very slow with their thoughts but don't have schizophrenia. This program reminds me of another project related with robots trying to make the diagnosis of the patients based on the chief complaint that the patient may have. Scares me a little that physicians are going to be replaced by computers! And where is going to be the interaction that every human being is expecting with their physicians? Thank you:)
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Post by Nora Magrabi on Sept 3, 2015 7:42:07 GMT -4
I believe using computers to accurately predict the occurrence of a psychotic episode in patients by analyzing patterns of speech is an excellent tool. While doctors can do the same, the 100 percent accuracy of the automated speech analysis program is very promising. In some patients, the semantic incoherence that indicates disorganized thought, a characteristic of schizophrenia, can be at times missed by doctors. In these instances, the automated speech analysis program would be very useful. Since the sample size for this study was very small, it is important that the findings are replicated using larger sample sizes. Identifying patients most likely to develop schizophrenia allows for preventative treatment before the onset of psychosis.
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Post by Princess Aleke on Sept 3, 2015 8:46:48 GMT -4
As people don’t track their thought flows, the attention from the psychiatrists and them pointing out their limitations, makes it easy for the confirmation of the diagnosis of schizophrenia which is disorganized thought, evidenced by disjointed patterns in speech, 79 percent prediction by psychiatrist is very Good, in as much as there is a 100 percent accuracy by the computer to diagnose the disease in a small group of people is very successful, I think it should be tested as well in large groups and with time we can be able to find out its limitations and more advantages and also compare the limitations of the computer alone and that of the psychiatrists, however combination of both will increase the chances and best accuracy in diagnosing and treating the disease.
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