Don’t use AI as a therapist
Hey everyone,
As you can see in my previous posts, I’m a board certified therapist.
In the previous episodes of BtB, Robert talked about AI psychosis, and I just want to chime in and say this is a real problem we are facing in this field.
One of the hardest and most important parts of therapy is to be open to being challenged. Not agreasively, not unheard, but hearing from an outside person. Occasionally someone will tell me they were “almost a therapist” because they are a good listener. Listening is a part of therapy, absolutely, but we don’t blindly agree. Sometimes challenges look like questioning a clients delusions “I know it felt like x and y, but is it possible it was a and b?” Or “does your son not talk to you because you feel he is prioritizing his wife, or because you only call him when you want him to do physical labor?” “I’m sure it felt like everyone was staring, but how often do you stare at other people? Is this anxiety talking?”
It’s not always comfortable, but it’s needed. My own personal therapist challenges me, and I wouldn’t be growing without her doing so.
We are also mandated reporters. Meaning, if you make comments about harming yourself or others, we are going to a hospital to assess you.
Also, an AI bot cannot diagnose you. I have a number of clients who come in saying chatGPT said they had a diagnosis, and after talking to them for a bit, I’ll gently disagree because they don’t meet criteria. This often leads to the clients showing me their chat log where the AI tells them they meet criteria and get upset that I’m disagreeing.
It also cuts down on socialization, which is absolutely needed for recovery. A lot of my clients refer to AI bots as their friends, and it’s like “honey, you need actual friends. Staying in bed messaging a robot you named is not being social”.
I’ve also had a number of clients who struggle with addiction, and they tell me they don’t have a problem with substance use because a chat bot told them they didn’t.
I’m slightly biased because I don’t like AI in general, but when I talked to my coworkers about this growing trend, we are all pretty concerned. It feels like we, as a population, are going to turn into the people from Wall-E.
For the record, stop diagnosing yourself as well. Go to a professional. I went to school for 8 years, took several exams, need to continue to take exams to keep my license, to make an accurate diagnosis. TikTok doesn’t you a clinician make.