Mental Health and Digital Therapy Apps as Void Objects: Clinical Opacity, Engagement Architecture, and Documented Harm — A Within-Domain Spearman Convergence
Abstract
Twelve digital mental health platforms (BetterHelp, Talkspace, Cerebral, Done, and others) scored on O (algorithm transparency for therapist matching, clinical outcome disclosure), R (personalized content escalation, crisis response adaptivity), and C (subscription dependency, data portability, therapist relationship lock-in). Spearman ρ between Void Index and documented harm from FTC settlements, NHS Digital adverse event reporting, and JMIR Mental Health literature. EU AI Act Annex III §5, GDPR Article 9 special category health data.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Digital Mental Health Interventions
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Publication date
- 1 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint