Reimagining Mental Health with Artificial Intelligence: Early Detection, Personalized Care, and a Preventive Ecosystem.

BACKGROUND: The rising prevalence of mental disorders, coupled with limited access to mental health services, underscores the urgent need for innovative solutions. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers transformative potential in managing mental health conditions through multimodal data analysis. OBJECTIVE: This study explores emerging applications of AI in early detection, personalized treatment, and the prevention of symptom escalation in mental disorders. METHODS: A narrative review was conducted using comprehensive searches of PubMed, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore databases (2015-2025). Selected sources included studies on natural language processing (NLP), deep learning, and the analysis of multimodal data (eg, voice, text, and biosensor inputs). A qualitative synthesis was employed to identify key patterns, challenges, and innovations. FINDINGS: AI enhances early detection through concepts such as a "psychological digital signature" and reports high performance in some studies (reported accuracies vary widely, eg, up to ~91% in selected cohorts). However, many high-accuracy reports derive from single-site or limited datasets with variable external validation; therefore, these figures should be interpreted cautiously. We discuss study-specific limitations (sample size, validation methods, and population diversity) in the Methods and Critical Appraisal sections. CONCLUSION: AI provides a patient-centered, preventive framework for reimagining mental health care. However, its effective integration requires robust ethical standards and digital infrastructure. Ethical considerations are critically linked to clinical implementation, particularly regarding privacy, fairness, and transparency in AI-assisted decision-making.