Feeling Lonely? Let IBM's Watson Match You With A Therapist

Therapy can be a useful tool for those with deep-seated issues or anyone who needs a sounding board for life's big decisions. Seeking a therapist is now seen as a way to reach out for help instead of a strange act of narcissism. When it comes to finding a therapist, a good match can make a world of difference. Picking a practitioner from the Yellow Pages is a complete crapshoot; now, IBM's Watson is lending its supercomputing power to creating ideal matches between patients and therapists on Talkspace, an online, licensed therapy provider that you can access from your smartphone.

Watson will be able to scan a user's anonymous messages to Talkspace for insights into a patient's personality, thinking style, and emotional stress. Using the information, Watson will be able to create a better match between each patient and therapist, hopefully creating the optimal environment for users to get the help they need.

Talkspace is just one of the many new companies to utilize Watson's supercomputing abilites. IBM just announced at its World of Watson conference that over 270 new commerical partners are going to have access to the Watson's high-speed calculation power, integrating the supercomputer into various platforms. Watson is also growing its current events information database through a new partnership with the Associated Press, and Watson will have access to new, streamlined data aggregated by AlchemyData.

If you're interested in seeing if Watson's therapist matchmaking skills can benefit you, check out Talkspace for iOS on the App Store for Android on the Google Play store.

Source: Tech Crunch