Can AI Really Be Your Therapist?

Millions of people are using AI to help with their mental health issues. If you're one of them, you should know the pluses and minuses.

As with most inventions, AI can be a great tool if used properly. It can be a tremendous aid in the fields of medicine, education, science, and more. And for people suffering with mental illnesses, like depression, anxiety, social phobia, and other issues, it can provide information, some interventions, and someone to "talk" to at any hour of the day or night. However, as a therapist, it falls short in many ways.

1. AI is programmed to be positive and affirming. (So are therapists!) But sometimes you need to be challenged. Sometimes you need to have the hard questions asked. And the person doing those things needs to know how and when to apply them.

2. There are times when you don't need an immediate answer. You need a safe space and a few moments to sit with your feelings, your pain. You need time to process. That's why psychotherapy is usually set for once per week. To give you time to absorb, think, question and then bring that into the next session.

3. Although having a therapist whenever and wherever you want seems fantastic, it means you aren't committing yourself to the work you need to do. This may even be an issue in your relationships. Musicians, athletes, scientists, in fact any experts in any field, know that it takes time and dedication to become really good at something. Imagine if someone told you they wanted to learn to play the piano by practicing at random times, whenever they felt like it!

4. AI can't model a healthy relationship because it is one-sided. It responds to what you input. It responds the same way it would if another person typed in the same words. Too many people are in therapy because they were never seen, never heard. They feel like they don't matter. Talking to a computer program just exacerbates that, because when all is said and done, you know you're basically talking to yourself.

5. When you use AI for therapy, you are continuing a pattern of avoidance. You don't have to call a stranger, don't have to take any risks, you don't have to face a real person. In that way, you are reinforcing your issues instead of resolving them.

6. AI doesn't feel anything. It doesn't get excited when you land that new job. It doesn't laugh with you, hand you tissue, feel compassion for your losses.

The bottom line is, AI can't and doesn't care about YOU. The real you, the whole you. Any empathy or understanding you might get from it is just programmed words. Every human therapist has heard the line, "You only care because I pay you!" Not true. You pay for a therapist's time, knowledge, and experience. You can't buy someone's caring. Outside of that hour a week, we worry about clients, seek consultation, read, and study, trying to find new things we can use to help our clients feel better. We don't get paid for that work, we do it because we CARE!

So think twice before using AI to be your regular therapist. You deserve better.