Explore the new SODP website, free expert webinars, leadership updates, the “Taco Bell Test” for AI in therapy, hot questions in digital mental health, and our upcoming events and webinars.
Check out the new SODP website and be sure to visit the new expanded SODP + JMIR Mental Health library of expert webinars. All webinars are free to view and approximately 25 minutes long.
Are you interested in being a guest on our next webinar? Tell us what topic you would like to share here.
SODP and JMIR Mental Health's Focus Areas for the 2025–2026 Year
The Society of Digital Psychiatry and JMIR Mental Health proposed a three-pronged roadmap to close the research-to-practice gap in digital mental health.
1. Expand clinician education via free webinars, symposia, and core curricula to build confidence and skills.
2. Train and support Digital Navigators to boost access, engagement, and workflow integration across diverse settings.
3. Establish actionable AI standards and benchmarking to ensure transparency, safety, and utility.
This global, inclusive effort seeks to accelerate responsible implementation while catalyzing future research.
📈 Trends in Digital Mental Health Do We Need the Taco Bell Test for AI?
Taco Bell is a popular fast-food restaurant, and not where healthcare leaders go for lessons about AI. But perhaps if they did, they may also have heard of the Taco Bell Test for AI.
Over the last year, Taco Bell rolled out AI into its drive-thrus. The reasons made sense with the potential for more efficient ordering and the need for fewer staff. But that is not what happened. One customer ended up ordering 18,000 cups of water, another ended up in an infinite loop when ordering a soda, and yet another was able to place an order for McDonald’s despite this being Taco Bell.
Needless to say, Taco Bell has pulled back on its AI efforts for now and noted that even for drive-thrus, there is still a role for humans. “Sometimes it lets me down, but sometimes it really surprises me,” Taco Bell Chief Digital and Technology Officer Dane Mathews told The Wall Street Journal in September 2025.
Returning to digital mental health, imagine what Dane Mathews would say if he were told about plans to use AI in therapy. He would likely caution that, until it works well at Taco Bell, it is unlikely to succeed at the much more complex task of therapy. And therein lies the Taco Bell Test for AI. If it cannot yet take your order, it is likely not taking your medical information, let alone offering you medical advice. While AI will surely improve, if it causes harm in the drive-thru, it will likely cause harm if acting as a therapist. Perhaps that is why, as of today, not a single AI chatbot claims to offer actual, clinical therapy. When Taco Bell feels AI is good to go and you can order your taco that way, then perhaps it is time to come back and reevaluate AI therapists.
⁉️ Hot Question in Digital Mental Health
In every issue of the SODP Newsletter, JMIR Mental Health's Editor-In-Chief, Dr. John Torous, dives deep into your most pressing questions about digital mental health.
This Edition's Question
Question: What is AI Psychosis?
Answer: AI Psychosis has frequently been in the news. But can the use of an AI chatbot induce a psychotic state? So far, there has been no strong evidence to suggest so. For some people, overuse and lack of sleep may induce a temporary psychotic state. For others at clinical risk of developing schizophrenia, their use of AI likely did not trigger psychosis, but was in parallel (ie, correlated but not causal). Still, for others, AI may be the object of their delusions, just as TVs and radios have been the object of delusions for many years (and yet we don’t believe TVs and radios cause schizophrenia). Still, we have to admit there is much we don’t know, and while it is possible for some people that AI could cause psychosis, we first need to rule out the common reasons before declaring a new type of illness and blaming AI.
Do you have a question you want answered in the next newsletter? Let us know here.
📖 Book Spotlight
Expand your reading list! In each newsletter, we'll share a must-read book from within our community or a fascinating discovery.
SODP member Charlotte Blease published “Dr. Bot.” The book offers a thoughtful exploration of where modern medicine falls short and how AI, if used ethically and intelligently, could complement human doctors rather than replace them.
👍 Survey Spotlight
What do you think about “AI Psychosis”?
With so much media coverage on this phenomenon, it’s important that we get ahead of the hype and help ground and shape the conversation. Please share your thoughts on AI psychosis in this brief six-question survey. The results will be shared back with you and incorporated into a Journal of Medical Internet Research article from News and Perspectives, our new section. Responses can be submitted anonymously.
The 2025 Technology in Psychiatry Summit - Virtual - December 11-12, 2025: Explores the intersection of digital health, neuroscience, and psychiatry through keynotes, talks, and workshops. (Submission deadline is October 9).
Want to list your event with us? Just reach out and let us know the details to share.
🌐 Upcoming Webinar Spotlight
September 29 at 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM EST*
The SODP Symposium Live from Australia will feature local speakers presenting their research. Carla Gorban will discuss how Digital Navigators can enhance youth engagement. Dr. Jake Linadron will share new findings on researchers’ use of LLMs and the prevalence of citation “hallucinations” in mental health. Dr. Natasha Josifovski (Presenting) and Dr. Mark Larsen will share insights from the RAFT trial on digital suicide aftercare via text-message brief contact interventions.
Get your brand in front of highly engaged clinicians—consider advertising with SODP. In addition to our membership journal newsletter, we offer a society website and access to more than 32,000 online professionals.
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