LINE-based Virtual Friend Development for Borderline Personality Disorder

During the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the Indonesian government has declared various restrictions on human daily activities to minimize physical contact between people and reduce the transmission of COVID-19. After a very long time, these restrictions may be felt like "eating a simalakama fruit" as not only does it cause a positive result by breaking the chain of virus transmission between humans, but the restriction may also decrease the financial stability and increase people’s level of stress. Meanwhile, it is known that Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) as well as other mental health disorders, may happen to people with high fragility to stress. The original purpose of the development of LINE chatbot discussed in this paper, named "Sovi Lau" which is an acronym that stands for "Sobat Virtual Anti Galau" or "Anti-Stress Virtual Friend" is mainly to make a chatbot that can act as a friend who is always able to talk with and to discuss with. People suffering from BPD can also use it whenever they need. The use of LINE Messenger and Program-O is found to be the simplest way to develop a chatbot that can be used by psychologists to provide a good communication for people suffering from BPD.