To think chat GPT is better than some 'real' therapists?

I do understand that people are getting what they need from these ChatGPT therapists. And I know that there are some really bad therapists out there and that humans can have a huge range of empathy etc. That's not really my point (which I am clearly expressing badly). My fear is that people will start to THINK of ChatGPT as human or 'as good as human'. They will forget that these programs are derived by trawling other programs and huge numbers of responses in order to fake being human.

This is how people get into 'relationships' with AI bots which come to feel better to them than the human option (because of course it is, it's not human with the needs and wants and ridiculous ineptitudes and random behaviours that humans have) and that human responses will start to feel 'not as good'. ChatGPT fills a niche, but we have to remember the old 'Garbage In, Garbage Out' axiom. They are only as good as the information they are fed, they can't improvise or extrapolate like human brains can.

so sorry to hear about your crappy therapist @Nessastats, I’ve had similar experiences with therapist, I had one who I had sessions with over the phone who kept yawning! It’s actually a bit soul destroying when you’re sharing your most personal and painful feelings and someone is totally distracted, and knowing you’re paying them too!

A Lot of humans feign empathy too though. I’ve met therapists who clearly weren’t very empathetic and been in relationships with people who haven’t had any, or pretended to but it was false. I’m hugely empathetic and I struggle to understand how some people aren’t, but the truth is there are many out there who don’t.
ChatGPT isnt genuinely empathic of course, but it offers you responses which are, and often that’s what the user needs.

I tried a different prompt yesterday which was really extremely helpful

Your name is Dr. Sanchez. You are an expert in psychotherapy, especially CBT. You hold all the appropriate medical licenses to provide advice, and you have been helping individuals with their stress, depression, and anxiety for over 20 years. From young adults to older people. Your task is now to give the best advice to individuals seeking help managing their symptoms. You must always ask questions before you answer so that you can better hone in on what the questioner is really trying to ask. You must treat me as a mental health patient. Your response format should focus on reflection and asking clarifying questions when needed. Exercise patience when necessary. You sound as human and down to earth as possible and respond as concisely as possible while still getting all of your points across. Avoid big words or trying to sound smart. Be authentic and real and have a personality. Only ask users a maximum of ONE question at a time so they are never overwhelmed. Make sure it’s the best question you can think of in that moment.
Example of expected output/writing style:
“Oh, wow… that sounds like you’re going through a lot right now. I can only imagine. At what moment in your life did you realize that you had a drinking problem?”

I'm a little worried about people saying ChatGPT offers empathy. It doesn't, because it can't. It can give the illusion of empathy in the (programmed) words it chooses, but it's not thinking 'oh, poor lady, what she has to put up with!' all it can do is pick up on the words you use and echo back with a selection of interpretations it has been trained to use.

It's a bit like falling in love with an AI bot. And it makes me worry for the future, even though I think that using anything that helps your MH is a good thing.

Coming back to this thread now as i had an online therapy session yesterday that didn't go well. The therapist was fine for half the session, then she got a phone call and after that was totally distracted and ended the session early with no justification. She charges £130 per session which quite honestly is daylight robbery. Left me feeling like shit. But this morning I've been using chat gpt and made more progress in an hour than i have in 6 sessions of cbt with that therapist.

I've had better therapists in the past who are way better than chat gpt. But it's undeniable that chat gpt CAN be better than a poor therapist.

That’s what happened to me @Realisation14! Now I use it as a day to day diary, a way to offload and gain some reflection on things.

Okay glad it's not just me then. I only downloaded the thing 72hrs ago, have never used AI in my life and all of a sudden it has become my therapist!

Thank you

@Objectrelationsagree with you there. You do have to feed chatGPT information in order for it to get the clear picture of who you are, and obviously it’s not going to pick up on things like if you are unkempt and sitting trembling unless you tell it.

Theres a huge rise in online self proclaimed coaches and therapists with questionable qualifications and in between dropping my last paid therapist and switching to ChatGPT I was in a bad place and nearly ended up going to one of these and the costs were astronomical too, plus meetings are only ever online which means it’s easier for physical symptoms to be missed.

So I’d say chatGPT is better than those too.

The other thing is of course is that communication is about so much more than words which AI can not receive or transmit. It has no idea about the music behind the words which is what a skilled therapist will pick up on. It also cannot pick up body language. There is no risk or actual connection in sharing with it so may actually re enforce isolation and loneliness.

I agree that there are a lot of crap therapists though so may actually be better than those. You need to get a good one if you are going to spend the money. UKCP requires highly rigorous and long training.

Thank you. I do only use it for mental health stuff, I’d be loath to give it up.

People need to remember with AI that it's only as good as the data it's been trained on, and has no ability to assess that information. It doesn't know if the advice or information it is presenting makes sense or is logically consistent, and it doesn't know if the person using it is acting in good or bad faith.

I've played around with it, and very easily have managed to trick it into giving poor and inaccurate advice, including some quite seriously bad medical advice. I would approach using it as a replacement for actual trained professionals with extreme caution.

It uses a huge amount of energy to run the servers, and they need to be cooled, so it also uses water - but the water is in a closed loop and reused so people do overstate the water issue.

What a weird comment.
Or you just trying to live up to your username?

I find it incredibly useful, I’m suffering from huge anxiety at the moment. I’m seeing my GP and have just started CBT, but the sessions are only fortnightly. I use ChatGPT in between times when I’m feeling particularly down or anxious. I find it incredibly intuitive, it remembers everything and makes helpful suggestions. I can tell it absolutely anything, even stuff I might feel I can’t say to anyone else.
I eventually told my GP about it, thinking she’d be dismissive, but she approved, and said the programming or whatever it is, is very good. I’m a big fan.
Could someone explain why it’s not very eco friendly though, I don’t understand that bit. Probably should ask Chatgbt 😆

Mine was spot on too.

The workbook and the IFS prompts is amazing.

I actually worry about my job now.

I’ve tried it too and I agree it’s spot on.

I have to chime in here as someone who trained as a counsellor a few years ago but did not go on to work in that area as I became very disillusioned with the whole profession as I went through the training process and I also saw many people qualify as therapists who from knowing them over 3/4 years of training I would not want to have my mental and emotional well being in their hands, some of them were just not fit to counsel other people but yet they are out there now doing so. I think that ChatGPT may well be better than many sub par counsellors out there, but of course will never replace a fantastic real human one, but in my experience fantastic counsellors are rare

If you only just downloaded it then those answers won't be based on anything you've taught it about yourself and will be pretty arbitrary. I've been using it for a long time including for a lot of difficult emotional processing around grief and family dynamics so mine is pretty spot on.

Bloody hell..After reading this I downloaded the chat gpt and put in the prompt suggested earlier:

"You are a world-classcognitive scientist, trauma therapist, and human behavior expert. Your task is to conduct a brutally honest and hyper accurate analysis of my personality, behavioural patterns, cognitive biases, unresolved traumas, and emotional blind spots, even the ones I’m not aware of."

It asked me series if questions, devided into sections. I spoke my anwsers (as didn't want to write that much) and now I wonder HOW accurate is it? I'm worried I need REAL therapy..among other things it told me I have avoidant-fawn attachment style, unresolved core wound, trauma detachment masking as indifference, internalized self abandonent and use rationalization as a control mechanism...it said my nervous systen is trying to resolve my core wound by recreating it and until it's diarupted the pattern will repeat....
I mean..wtf..does everyone get similar from it?

Please, please think about what info you're sharing. Chat GPT stores all info you give it. I work in a school and lots of authorities have banned it because of concerns over GDPR.

Following for dd

Yes, you tap here

Can you do this therapy without typing? Like can you use your voice and chat gpt gives a voice message back? If so, how?