Using Chat GPT to find a diagnosis

[wheresmymojo]

Hi...

I will preface this with the obvious disclaimer that you should always seek a diagnosis from a medical professional and that AI should not be replacing that (yet).

For those that have many symptoms but have struggled to find a diagnosis that fits, it may be worth using ChatGPT4 (it's $20 for one month and then you could cancel immediately).

There are cases being reported where it has helped to narrow down to a potential diagnosis and if you're stuck could be worth a try...

www.today.com/health/mom-chatgpt-diagnosis-pain-rcna101843

I just don't believe AI can replicate the human experience you get from a real doctor. Can it ask you "how's your mood?" with a slightly patronising smile?

Just shows what a sad desperate state of affairs this country has become, no medical help available for a lot of people😢

It definitely doesn't replicate the experience.

It listens much more closely

It's not patronising

You have as much time with it as you need

It actually thinks about all the possible options rather than fobbing you off for months based on a human bias that it must be the top one or two explanations for the symptoms you have

It's more empathetic than 50% of the doctors I've ever spoken to!

I actually also use it as a therapist - specifically using schema therapy...

It's not perfect but pretty good TBH (especially bearing in mind it can also do large proportions of my job for me, a weekly meal plan and is helping me write a book!)

I've only used it (the free one) for software development questions, but actually I think it could (especially if they trained one specially) be SO useful for that first 'triage' visit that would otherwise be a GP job, for all the reasons you said. I'd never expect a GP to revise and memorise my entire medical history before a 5 minute appt but a computerised system could join up ALL the dots that may go unnoticed etc. (Assuming the NHS could ever connect their records up nicely & securely etc!)

Really intrigued by the idea of therapy with it too, how did you get into that with it - did you already have an idea of what type of therapy you wanted etc, how do you prompt that?

I did already have an idea of what therapy I wanted it to use so I was quite specific about that but you wouldn't have to be.

I used a question along the lines of

"Imagine that you're an expert in schema therapy and I am your client.

I'm coming for my first appointment with you and then we will have an ongoing therapeutic relationship where you are the therapist and I am the client.

Please respond in the manner of a therapist (not like an AI). Ask me any questions that you need to in order to provide expert level therapy"

Interesting! I really need to experiment with it some more. Though I'm scared of letting the robots know all my weaknesses, lest they think I'm an easy target when they take over 😆

It does pretty well on ChatGPT4 - I would say the main thing is that you have to be a bit more directive with it than you would be with a therapist.

Obviously a real therapist would consider in advance what the goal / focus of that session should be (although often they will ask you...). You have to lead AI a bit more by saying things like "In this session I'd like to focus on XYZ problem"

Also it's better to be willing to probe its answers a bit more (I think this happens naturally in face to face therapy but you need to specifically think about doing it with AI).

For example - I had a session which led on to self-care and I wanted it to make some suggestions to me (as in concrete advice/options).

It was happy to do this and I could have just left the conversation at a list of the ten options it gave but in reality I started thinking about lots of barriers.

How some just wouldn't work in my schedule, how I didn't like some of the others for various reasons, etc.

I gave it that feedback and it helped me to find other options that would fit my lifestyle / be more appropriate / find ways to make it work.

It does require some 'meta-cognition' and self-awareness though.

In that example, I need to notice that I was feeling bratty and just mentally pushing back on all the options and then ask it to help me work it through.

I've only been doing it for a couple of days, I'll probably write a post about it in a few more days as it might be an option to help people who have less severe MH issues and/or that need some input while waiting for better options and have a good level of self-awareness.

I wouldn't recommend at this stage for very serious MH issues though (not for any specific reason, it would just worry me that it could say something that makes things worse and obviously can't see what impact that's had on the person using it and adjust its approach!)

*In that example, I needed to notice

(no edit function on the app!)

There's a fascinating Visible Women podcast on AI in medicine and how it can exacerbate biases in the dataset (e.g. underdiagnosed conditions like heart disease in women). Scary but fascinating. www.tortoisemedia.com/audio/visible-women-caroline-criado-perez-episode-3/

This is interesting, thanks OP. Most interested in the therapy stuff actually. I do like the way that you can ask it for advice and then tell it why the advice won't work and it just goes oh right, what about this? Whereas real life people get annoyed IME!