ChatGPT in Therapy: Helpful Tool or Poor Substitute?
A new study looks at how ChatGPT might work in mental health support. Researcher Paolo Raile tested the AI in three scenarios: helping therapists, supporting patients between sessions, and assisting people who aren't seeing a therapist.
The good news? ChatGPT responds with what feels like empathy and creates a safe space for people to talk about their problems. It's available 24/7 and offers privacy that online forums can't. For therapists, it can suggest diagnoses and treatment ideas. Patients already in therapy might find it useful for interpreting dreams or processing thoughts between appointments.
This clinical psychologist in Prosper, Texas has personally used ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini, and Claude to:
-help summarize historical facts when I’m having conversations with friends and family (“How many times have the democrats/republicans threatened to shut down the government each in the last 30 years?”),
-offer SEO suggestions (“this clinical psychologist” for example),
-help troubleshoot a pesky PC BIOS flashing issues, and
-edit blogs for readability and engagement (Heyoo!)
But there are serious drawbacks. Raile reported that ChatGPT heavily favors cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) while barely mentioning other approaches that might work better for some people. It gives incomplete information about specific therapies and can't consider a person's unique background or notice important non-verbal cues like body language.
The bottom line: ChatGPT might be a helpful addition to therapy—especially for people who need support right away or between appointments—but it's definitely not a replacement for seeing a real therapist. The researcher suggests that AI used in mental health should be regulated and users should be told about its limitations and biases.
As more people turn to AI for mental health support, understanding what these tools can and can't do becomes increasingly important. For better and worse, as technology continues to improve, the line between what AI can and can’t do will further blur. I’ll continue to explore this blossoming phenomenon right here in my blog.
