Application of AI-Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Platform in Alleviating Performance Anxiety

Abstract

Performance anxiety is a universal psychological challenge for people in situations where performance is highly significant such as examinations, interviews, public speaking, and performing in the arts. While the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as an evidence-based approach for managing anxiety is well established, traditional formats in which the method is delivered are limited in terms of accessibility, personalization, and engagement. New frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital mental health technologies can provide fresh opportunities for augmenting CBT delivery using adaptive, scalable, and user-centered technologies. This paper introduces the design, implementation and evaluation of an AI assisted cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) platform that seeks to alleviate performance anxiety. The proposed system combines repeated micro-check-ins, contextual awareness (e.g. event type and time-to-event), and interaction-level engagement signals, to build a dynamic representation of the user state. Based on this state, the platform provides CBT consistent micro-interventions by a two-stage adaptive mechanism, combining rule-constrained candidate filtering with personalized utility based ranking. In order to promote responsible deployment, the system can include an explainability layer that presents transparent and decision-level rationales for recommendations, and ethical and safety guardrails that can ensure non-diagnostic and supportive use of the system. Experimental results show that the AI-assisted adaptive platform is more effective for short-term reductions in self-reported performance anxiety than static CBT delivery and heuristic adaptive baselines. In addition, we see improvements in user engagement, adherence, and perceived trust, underlining the importance of personalization and transparency in digital mental health interventions. The findings suggest that the CBT delivery with the support of AI can offer effective and scalable support for performance anxiety if the human-centered and ethically grounded boundaries are followed.