“I’ve been using ChatGPT to work through some past traumas, and I think I need to talk to a therapist.”
This is what one of my clients said when we met for the first time in a free 15-minute phone consultation (and I am sharing this with the client’s permission). I was intrigued, curious: What had been this person’s experience with AI and what prompted the request for an introductory phone call?
Our subsequent work helped me learn about the therapeutic potential of AI, as well as its potential pitfalls.
AI is the newest option of the many ways people are using technology to improve their mental health. We’ve already got plenty of apps to help us establish new habits, learn mindfulness meditation, and track moods. We can listen to podcasts and follow therapists on social media in search of helpful tips and insight. And AI is fast becoming the new go-to for information and advice on health, relationships, work, and more, or even just for “a listening ear.” There are so any options besides meeting with a therapist! So why should you bother making a therapy appointment? Let’s look at the benefits and limitations of apps, AI, and other innovations so you can make good decisions about your mental health care, including when to see a therapist.
Benefits of AI for Mental Health
Whether you’re using a therapy-focused “thought companion” or a more general AI platform such as ChatGPT, it can feel quite helpful to articulate your thoughts and get a response that makes you feel understood. (Therapists are good at this too.) Writing and speaking are ways we process our thoughts and feelings, so you may find that a few sessions of AI “conversation” results in some insight that reduces your stress or helps you figure out a solution to a problem. AI can also suggest stress management skills and ways to communicate assertively. You can ask ChatGPT and other therapy AI platforms to use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to detect “cognitive distortions” such as all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralizations, or catastrophizing; however, it is also likely to reinforce your thoughts. Why? Read on.
Limitations and Dangers of AI for Mental Health
AI does have limitations, and there are good reasons to seek a human counselor. My client was aware AI platforms want your repeat engagement and had noticed that it “actively reinforces what you want to hear.” This pattern can result in an increase in delusional and dangerous thinking. Studies show that children and young people may be especially vulnerable and that AI can increase stigma around mental health diagnoses.
A counselor may be more likely to challenge you when they see that your thinking has got you stuck, and to help you turn insight into real change. While it’s nice to interact with the always polite and affirming AI interface, it may skew our expectations toward the unrealistic. Counseling with a real person gives you practice relating to a real person.
Our use of AI may also be training us to seek the dopamine hit of a quick answer instead of learning to be comfortable with uncertainty, and it may be training us to rely on a machine instead of turning to one another. My client needed someone who could notice when trauma work with AI was going too fast and needed to be balanced with attention to physical and social needs. My client needed someone who cared.
Mental Health Apps
How about apps? There are apps for practicing mindfulness, both subscription-based (e.g., Calm) and free (e.g., Healthy Minds), for establishing new habits (e.g., Habitica), and for a plethora of other purposes. Apps can function as brain “extensions,” like external memory for a computer, providing places to list goals and track progress, sending us reminders and even “rewarding” us with encouraging words and animations.
Mental Health Podcasts and Therapeutic Influencers
Podcasts and social media posts by various therapeutic and educational influencers can also be helpful. Maybe you’ve found great parenting tips on Instagram from dr.siggie or drbeckyatgoodinside. Maybe you’ve found a podcast that’s helping you understand yourself, like You Make Sense, or helping you move forward with your dating goals, like Paging Dr. NerdLove. Keep in mind that a therapist must meet rigorous educational and state requirements and hold to a code of ethics designed to protect you from harm, while anyone can post content. It’s worth checking the credentials of those you follow online.
Mental Health Audiobooks
Listening to audiobooks is another way we can use technology to improve our mental health. You can use Libby, your library’s free audiobook app, to access many audiobooks (and eBooks) for free! While you’re commuting or jogging or folding laundry, you can stick in your earbuds and learn How to Be Enough: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists (by Ellen Hendriksen) or How to Keep House While Drowning (by k.c. davis).
Limits of Mental Health Technology and When to Consider Therapy
Notice, though, that you could spend a lot of your time listening, reading, typing, and clicking, and not actually doing. Are you avoiding living by always thinking you need to learn more first? Are you swimming in insight but still swimming in circles? These are patterns a therapist can help you notice and change. And a therapist won’t be speaking to a general audience; instead, your therapist will be listening to, learning about, and speaking to you.
We’ve got a lot of options for pursuing improvements in our mental health, so many, in fact, that we may come to think we must always be improving ourselves! Be sure you’re taking time to tune into your actual life, your own sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Maybe life is actually okay! If not—if you’re noticing an ongoing pattern you’re having trouble changing—consider therapy!