SynthesisEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2026
A systematic review of artificial intelligence in child and adolescent interventions: from psychotherapy to developmental support.
Synthesis in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- AI-Based Approaches to Refugee Mental Health Care: Systematic Integrative Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- An Evidence-Based AI Virtual Assistant for Young People With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Co-Design and Prototype Development.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Advancing intervention science in child and youth mental health: from mechanisms to scalable care.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Navigating self-injury in a digital world: adolescents' perspectives on coping, help-seeking, and technology.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into child and adolescent psychotherapy has gained traction in recent years, driven by the increasing demand for accessible and effective mental health services. This systematic review investigates how AI has been applied in child and adolescent psychiatry, particularly as a psychotherapeutic, psychoeducational, or developmental support intervention. To achieve this, we conducted a comprehensive literature search and identified 38 relevant studies. These studies were categorized based on their utilization of conversational agents, game-based platforms, and robotic systems in psychotherapy and developmental support. To clarify the scope, “AI‑assisted” interventions were defined as structured interventions rely primarily on rule-based or semi-adaptive mechanisms to support therapeutic processes, whereas ‘AI-based’ interventions refer to systems that employ core artificial intelligence functionalities, enabling autonomous data processing and context-sensitive response generation. The findings highlight AI’s potential to enhance therapeutic outcomes, improve accessibility, and deliver personalized interventions. However, ethical considerations, clinician perspectives, and the maintenance of the therapeutic alliance remain critical challenges. Unlike previous reviews that focused on a single AI-based intervention type, this review takes a comprehensive approach by examining the combined impact of chatbots, game-based therapies, and social robots in child and adolescent mental health care. By synthesizing findings across these AI modalities, this review highlights key synergies, such as multimodal engagement, adaptive learning, seamless support across contexts, reinforcement of therapeutic skills, and comprehensive behavioral monitoring. These synergies illustrate how AI-assisted interventions can complement each other, creating a more personalized, engaging, and effective therapeutic experience. Furthermore, by synthesizing recent advancements, this review underscores the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and rigorous evaluation to optimize AI’s role in child and adolescent mental health care. This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42025638495, January 27th, 2025).
Indexed as
Identifiers
41779143What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.