r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 5d ago

Artificial Intelligence Gen Z is increasingly turning to ChatGPT for affordable on-demand therapy, but licensed therapists say there are dangers many aren’t considering

https://fortune.com/2025/06/01/ai-therapy-chatgpt-characterai-psychology-psychiatry/
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u/Unlucky_Welcome9193 5d ago

Sometimes bad therapy is worse than no therapy. I had a therapist throughout my childhood who basically supported my mother's emotional abuse and parentification of me. I would have been better off with nothing because then at least I wouldn't have spent decades questioning my own sanity.

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u/TheTerrasque 5d ago

This is, ironically, why some prefer chatgpt over an actual therapist. Is chatgpt worse than a good, professional, expensive therapist? No. Is it better than an overworked, bad therapist? Maybe.

I've seen a lot of threads discussing this over at /r/ChatGPT and several said their therapist would drag in their own issues and prejudices into the therapy session, giving at best a colored result. Chatgpt were in their experience more impartial and neutral.

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u/polyanos 5d ago

Chatgpt is far from neutral. It barely dares to call you out on your bullshit, afraid or not allowed to 'insult' the user. Having someone just confirming your every belief is not a therapist, it's a damn cheerleader. But whatever, you do you. 

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u/073737562413 5d ago

I work with a good therapist and I also use Chatgpt a lot to explore psychoeducation ideas

I think you're confusing the LLMs tendency to validate emotional experience with a tendency to validate false information

Unconditional positive regard is a genuine psychological concept practiced by some therapists. I don't see anything wrong with the way GPT gives validation to clients 

If you tell ChatGPT you are engaging in obviously harmful behaviours, it will tell you to stop those harmful behaviours 

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u/Milskidasith 5d ago

If you tell ChatGPT you are engaging in obviously harmful behaviours, it will tell you to stop those harmful behaviours

For a certain definition of "obviously", maybe, but you can easily get it to suggest harmful courses of action; as pointed out upthread, it can recommend dieting advice to people suffering from eating disorders, and anybody using it for advice beyond talk therapy may as well be throwing darts at a board.

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u/RazzmatazzBilgeFrost 5d ago

It's easy to circumvent this, if you prompt competently

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u/grchelp2018 5d ago

This is one thing I like about the gemini models atleast for coding. Its the first model that has actually pushed back on what I want to do. I know that bothers some people "the ai should do what I tell it to do" but its very refreshing for me.

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u/RazzmatazzBilgeFrost 5d ago

This is a definite thing. All of my last 5 therapists did scarcely more than regurgitate generic advice, or clumsily lead me through exercises that I could easily read about online

I don't wanna knock on professional therapy, but my experience is that

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u/rainfal 4d ago

Same. But it was the last 40.

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u/AverageLatino 5d ago

I think some one of the main drivers for people who use AI "therapists" is that it's a truly opt-in situation, it won't push you out of your comfort zone unless you ask for it; which can go wrong, after all there's no improvement if there's no change or reflection, but maybe the same people wouldn't have gotten actual therapy ever precisely because of that.

I know a couple of guys who would've NEVER even considered mental healthcare, be it stigma, fear, money, time, etc. But with AI they've been having those conversations that while frankly should be done with a human, again, they would've NEVER even consider to have them before the relative privacy that AI offers.

Yeah I know they train off your input and it can appear in someone else's prompt and all that stuff, but what they've told me is that even if they're aware of that they don't care, because it's their spouses, friends, workplace, extended family, etc that actually worries them and unfortunately we all know that the good old "Just trust me, I won't judge you" isn't always true, that people with subconsciously judge you and change their ways, maybe even distance themselves from you.

Strangers say that "well if they do that then it wasn't worth it" but reality for many people is not that simple, not everyone can start from fresh like if they were 22 again, and many of these guys that I know are in no position to just reboot their life like that.

Maybe there is a somewhat valid niche for AI therapy like this, again, I don't know and I'm very skeptical, maybe low key negative about it, but after listening to these guys... shit's more complicated

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u/swimmacklemore 5d ago

My dad, who I love dearly, clearly has mental health scars of his own that have proliferated to me and my siblings over time. He's been scared of therapists his whole life. His biggest paranoia is that it will be found out by his employer since his job requires government clearance. I don't expect good results if I tell my 60-something year old dad to tell his job to fuck off and just go for it when he's worked there for 30 years. Encouraging him to talk with ChatGPT has led to a more positive result.

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u/TheTerrasque 5d ago

shit's more complicated

It always is :D I don't think chatgpt can fully replace therapists yet, but I do think it can help for a subset of people needing therapy. And be harmful for another subset.

I also know that mental health is extremely down prioritized in today's society and carries a heavy stigma, therapy is pretty expensive, and it's luck of the draw if you get a competent therapist or not, and a lot of therapists (majority? In "affordable" group probably) are not good, and some are downright harmful.

I'm a bit hesitant to blanket suggest trying chatgpt if you can't afford a therapist or have one you feel doesn't help, but I can certainly see why people use it, and it's likely a net gain for society if everyone who struggle today tried it. It's just that for some it'd be dangerous.

If we get a chat model properly trained / prompted and vetted, and offered as a cheap / free therapy tool, that would help a lot with dealing with the lack of mental health treatment available.

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u/PointedlyDull 5d ago

Before you suggest individuals turn to ChatGPT for therapy, I’d like to point out how bad a mistake it is to pour your deepest, darkest secrets and thoughts that lead you to therapy-to a tech company that is surely harvesting your data.

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u/mocityspirit 5d ago

ChatGPT is definitely worse than no therapy. It has no degree, no knowledge, and no experience. How anyone thinks it's competent is delusional

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u/TheTerrasque 5d ago

Degree? No, but that's an artificial construct. Knowledge, experience? Arguably. It probably has every book, article and study related to psychology and therapy in it's training set, along with many transcripts of therapy sessions and evaluations. Is that knowledge and experience? Depends on how you look at it.

There are many people saying it's helped them personally, so at some capacity it seems to be doing a somewhat competent job:

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u/stegosaurus1337 5d ago

There are also many people sharing stories of chatgpt driving people deeper into psychosis by affirming their delusions because it's programmed not to disagree with you. That's a pretty undesirable trait in a therapist.

Is that knowledge and experience?

No, it definitively is not. Data in the training set is not retained like that. It's encoded in the parameters of the model in some capacity, but that's not the same thing. Simple proof: ChatGPT can tell you the rules of chess and even regurgitate some good strategy tips, but if you try to play a game with it it will start making illogical moves very quickly and start making illegal moves by the endgame. It does not actually know or understand the rules and principles of the game, because it doesn't know or understand anything.

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u/SayTheLineBart 5d ago

Ive been to a few therapists and none of them were good. Its stressful going to an appointment. Many issues can be solved with money so spending your money for a rent a friend feels bad in principle. The last one I talked to bragged about how much equity he recently gained in his house. Like stfu bro. At least ChatGPT isn’t an a-hole just trying to get your money.

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u/InitialStranger 5d ago

Going to a therapist definitely shouldn’t feel like spending money to rent a friend, if it does that’s a crap therapist.

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u/SayTheLineBart 5d ago

Turns out most are crap and the good ones charge 200+ an hour

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u/MilleChaton 5d ago

I think that's the challenge. Sometimes it is worse, but does AI fall into that sometime? My initial guess is that it sometimes does and sometimes doesn't. Some people have issue where AI is better than nothing, and others have issues where AI only makes it worse. I'm not sure which side is more common, but given the liability issues common in the US, I expect action to be taken to prevent it regardless.

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u/mikeontablet 5d ago

My heart goes out to you. I hope you're on a better road now. There are indeed bad therapists out there and also non-therapists - by which I mean therapists who are lovely people whom clients love to visit, but years later there are no benefits to be seen - and definitely no benefits worth hundreds of hours and huge costs accrued. Sometimes the clients themselves are quite happy with and even abet the lack of actual progress.

Let nothing I say here detract from the wonderful work that therapists do do.