Research map: AI as a Therapist, Companion, and Romantic Partner: Emerging Roles, Benefits, and Risks for Mental Health in Participatory Medicine

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  1. Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality · Julianne Holt‐Lunstad · 2015 · 6131 citations · Cited by this paper
  2. Developing a Culturally Tailored Narrative Video for Skin Cancer Prevention Among Spanish-Speaking Hispanic Outdoor Workers: Co-Design Study · 2026 · Related
  3. Survey of Hallucination in Natural Language Generation · Ziwei Ji · 2022 · 4543 citations · Cited by this paper
  4. Co-creation of digital outcome measures for Dravet syndrome: a multi-stage co-design feasibility study (Preprint) · 2026 · Related
  5. Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction · Donald Horton · 1956 · 4293 citations · Cited by this paper
  6. Rethinking Complex Care Using Participatory Medical Cognition and User-Driven Learning Amidst Multimorbidity: Participatory Action Research Study · 2025 · Related
  7. The Online Disinhibition Effect · John R. Suler · 2004 · 4190 citations · Cited by this paper
  8. Engaging Young People With Mental Health Needs and Exploring Outputs From a Resource Development Project: Qualitative Interview Study · 2025 · Related
  9. How stigma interferes with mental health care. · Patrick William Corrigan · 2004 · 3673 citations · Cited by this paper
  10. Preparing for Care: A Clinician’s Perspective on Anticipatory Caregiving and Meaning Making · 2026 · Related
  11. Prevalence, Severity, and Unmet Need for Treatment of Mental Disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys · The WHO World Mental Health Survey Consortium · 2004 · 3525 citations · Cited by this paper
  12. SPAN@DEM (SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network @ Department of Emergency Medicine)—A Pioneer in Emergency Department-Specific Patient Advocacy: Development Study · 2025 · Related
  13. Delivering Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Young Adults With Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Using a Fully Automated Conversational Agent (Woebot): A Randomized Controlled Trial · Kathleen Kara Fitzpatrick · 2017 · 2805 citations · Cited by this paper
  14. Community Perceptions of Integrating Community Health Workers and Telehealth Services for Chronic Disease Management in a Rural Island Community: A Qualitative Study · 2026 · Related
  15. Advantages and limitations of Internet-based interventions for common mental disorders · Gerhard Andersson · 2014 · 1245 citations · Cited by this paper
  16. Inside or outside? A comparative study of two recovery colleges in Sweden and Norway (Preprint) · 2026 · Related
  17. The growing field of digital psychiatry: current evidence and the future of apps, social media, chatbots, and virtual reality · John Blake Torous · 2021 · 1223 citations · Cited by this paper
  18. Participatory System Mapping of a Hospice Care System With Hospice Stakeholders: Hybrid Design Workshop Study · 2026 · Related
  19. It’s only a computer: Virtual humans increase willingness to disclose · Gale Lucas · 2014 · 962 citations · Cited by this paper
  20. Patient and Family Perspectives on Generative AI Tools in Rare Diseases: Exploratory Mixed Methods Online Survey · 2026 · Related
  21. Loneliness and Social Internet Use: Pathways to Reconnection in a Digital World? · Rebecca A. Nowland · 2017 · 790 citations · Cited by this paper
  22. My Chatbot Companion - a Study of Human-Chatbot Relationships · Marita Bjaaland Skjuve · 2021 · 749 citations · Cited by this paper
  23. Effectiveness and Safety of Using Chatbots to Improve Mental Health: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis · Alaa Ali Abd-Alrazaq · 2020 · 516 citations · Cited by this paper
  24. A call to action to address rural mental health disparities · Dawn A. Morales · 2020 · 501 citations · Cited by this paper
  25. Novel Models for Delivering Mental Health Services and Reducing the Burdens of Mental Illness · Alan E. Kazdin · 2013 · 489 citations · Cited by this paper
  26. My AI Friend: How Users of a Social Chatbot Understand Their Human–AI Friendship · Petter Bae Brandtzæg · 2022 · 474 citations · Cited by this paper
  27. User Experiences of Social Support From Companion Chatbots in Everyday Contexts: Thematic Analysis · Vivian P. Ta · 2020 · 460 citations · Cited by this paper
  28. arXiv · Lucy Rosenbloom · 2019 · 329 citations · Cited by this paper
  29. MAINTAINING ENGAGEMENT IN LONG-TERM INTERVENTIONS WITH RELATIONAL AGENTS · Timothy Bickmore · 2010 · 259 citations · Cited by this paper
  30. From promise to practice: towards the realisation of AI-informed mental health care · Nikolaos Koutsouleris · 2022 · 257 citations · Cited by this paper
  31. AI companions for lonely individuals and the role of social presence · Kelly Merrill · 2022 · 137 citations · Cited by this paper
  32. Low availability, long wait times, and high geographic disparity of psychiatric outpatient care in the US · Ching-Fang Sun · 2023 · 103 citations · Cited by this paper
  33. AI Companions Reduce Loneliness · Julian De Freitas · 2024 · 76 citations · Cited by this paper
  34. Large language models as mental health resources: Patterns of use in the United States. · Tony G. Rousmaniere · 2025 · 53 citations · Cited by this paper
  35. The media equation: How people treat computers, television, & new media like real people & places · 1997 · 52 citations · Cited by this paper
  36. Artificial connections: Romantic relationship engagement with artificial intelligence in the United States · Brian J. Willoughby · 2025 · 23 citations · Cited by this paper
  37. `My Dataset of Love': A Preliminary Mixed-Method Exploration of Human-AI Romantic Relationships · Xuetong Wang · 2025 · 15 citations · Cited by this paper
  38. Online disinhibition mediates the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and uncivil communication · Aleksi H. Syrjämäki · 2024 · 8 citations · Cited by this paper

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