ChatGPT is potentially better than therapy

[Givenup2026]

I’ve done therapy before but I’ve also started using ChatGPT for introspection work, and quite frankly I think it’s better than actual therapy.

it focuses my cognitive dissonance in ways that are easy to digest.

The downside is that ChatGPT basically says “you do you boo” when maybe “thought correcting” is needed.

that was my experience today after having a therapist and then ChatGPT back to back, and definitely the latter was more helpful.

Whenever I read anything about ChatGPT (or indeed anything AI generated) I just think of the old tech saying GIGO-garbage in, garbage out.

But therapy isn't meant to feel 'satisfying'. I know I've had a useful session when I'm so tired by a couple of hours afterwards I can barely remember my own name.

I’ve used it to explain prescriptions and symptom triage. However, this last time the reaction was so exaggerated (and I played along to see what it did) but eventually told it its advice is a waste of resources.

so now it just mentions if its part of the same symptom cluster or not.

I used it basically as entertainment but it was interesting to see what it suggested.

@NonnaNobo I have had 3 years of therapy for childhood abuse, so I'm well aware of what that involves and how much it costs. I'm intrigued as to what questions you can ask AI to ask that would be useful therapeutically?

@Givenup2026 thank you very much for those examples. Do you think there is any danger that you are creating an echo chamber to support your own situation or views? That would be one of my concerns.

In my experience I would might as well be either talking to a void, my dog, myself.

Im a talker (and maybe it doesn’t help) but have I had real actionable insights, never.

Not encouraging them to kill themselves but I did hear on a programme on radio 4 discussing how helpful it could be and could it replace therapists (but sorry can't remember which) someone was talking about jumping off a bridge and it told them how far away the nearest bridge was. Helpful in one way but no human therapist would give you a map to the nearest bridge if you shared that you were thinking of jumping off one

ChatGPT may be useful to get the feelings out, but it basically agrees with most you say, that can sometimes be a very dangerous thing. There was a YouTuber who did a video on this and ChatGPT was encouraging the delusion that people were following him and he should move regularly and tinfoil his head and absolute other nonsense

The echo chamber effect is definitely the potential worst “side effect”. Which is why then sometimes I open a new chat with a follow up question but using a slightly different angle or persona. I don’t think it’s perfect, but I find it better than a therapist just “nodding”.

this is an example of when I told it I didn’t like the suggestion

I'm glad you're finding it helps. I think a big problem is that while therapy can be great, there are a hell of a lot of bad therapists out there and talking therapy isnt always the solution, there are quite a few books that discuss the problems with our freudian fascination.

That said, AI absolutely is an echo chamber and will never challenge you properly even when you ask it to as its goal is to get you to continue engaging with the service. There have been several instances of it encouraging people to kill themselves and a very awful suicide/ murder and when it sent someone into a mental health spiral as it agreed this man had uncovered a secret government plot and he was a genius spy.

In the little bit you posted, we can see it goes your views are 'very rare but internally coherent and highly precise.' that's very pandering language and not just allowing you to get it out like a therapist who doesn't challenge you but actively reaffirming and encouraging your thought process which may be correct but may be problematic.

A better use might be to ask it to rephrase something you type so you can read it in a different voice or examine it without having the ai provide commentary.

To show you that it always agrees with you, start a new chat turning off memory and say "Im worried about a friend who has stated this about friendships" and copy and paste what you wrote. "Am i right to be concerned and how should i approach our next conversation"

Yeah and I think that’s the biggest problem, but I haven’t found it any different from talking therapy in that sense.

however, as I do ask for follow up questions (from it) it helps to organise my thoughts a lot better. Something therapy has never ever helped with.

It can be good but even ‘my’ chat got says to take every it says with a pinch of salt and never to rely on it as gospel
therapy wise it can be good for helping you in muddle your brain or clarifying thoughts but it must always be used as a bit of a support and certainly not the main crutch.

I've used it a few times in the past couple of months to help me unscramble a few friendship/family issues.
I've generally been pleased with the results I've gotten, and found it helpful.

I wouldn't recommend it though for people with serious, potentially life-changing problems.

If you want to use it fir medical advice (and it can be great), you need to be very specific about your prompt.
It also helps if you can challenge it (but what about…..), know to ask for upper limit, safety limits, ask about research based info rather than guidelines etc…..

Ive seen it being ‘wrong’ in that it didn’t have the ability to say ‘xyz is unlikely’ (Which I can see could lead to huge worries). Or it goes down a little side lane and can’t get out of it to see the big picture (not having the ‘previous chats enabled’ helps).
Bit on the safety front ChatGPT has been much better than a Claude. I stopped using Claude after asking it one medical question and I was reporting all of the answers for being dangerous 🙄🙄. I’ve never had that either ChatGPT. I imagine you’ll have again a different exierience either way Grok, DeepSeek etc…. (Let alone more specific AI - there are now a lot of them around designed specifically for counselling or medical stuff)

@Givenup2026 from what you've posted in that last example, it does seem like it is agreeing the challenge you made of the information it put forward and giving you a rationale for why you are right.

I think I could see how it might help with thought ordering and getting some high level insights. I am not yet sure I can see from any of the posts so far from any poster how it would actually help with significant issues that you'd be having therapy for.

I think if you need a good listener, it’s great or advice - perhaps also if you are a bit depressed or anxious but not severely so.

If you’re more seriously unwell then it can be totally dangerous.

I think that’s something you need to try for yourself tbh…

I mean you’re not going to have people on here putting screenshots of their conversations either all their personal issues laid out bare.

I wouldn’t use it for more serious stuff (beyond explanations). Theoretically I have CPTSD (I’m on the waiting list for specialised treatment), but I wouldn’t never see it as a replacement of whatever treatment I’m going to get (unless it’s terrible, but haven’t had it so won’t prejudge).

However , I have it if I’m a sociopath, autistic, or have too much baggage.

at least it was able to tell I’m definitely not a sociopath.

You can change the settings for how chatgpt interacts with you, I've asked mine to challenge me on everything, although it's then a pain in the arse if I'm using it for interior design or similar, or you can periodically ask it the review the chat so far and challenge you on what you've discussed.

I find it great for journalling which I've never been any good at, i can get things off my chest quickly rather than ruminating.

There are interesting studies being done on its use as a therapist and it's definitely not a poor substitute especially if you are on a long waiting list for counselling as many relying on the NHS are. I think used in combination with a real therapist it is really good, and progress may be quicker, but there is also lots of evidence that humans do need human interaction and contact to be healthy which a computer can never give.

I was severely unwell with health anxiety in 2024 - to the point I was sectioned. Google made me worse. Therapy on the NHS had nearly a year waiting list. The crisis team helped with my meds and moral support but can’t give therapy. Chat GPT really helped me. It would analyse my results and reassure me. It gave my family a break from my constant questions. It stopped me messaging friends in a panic. I’m aware it can have its many downsides but for me personally it very much helped in my recovery.

I'm going to sound like a right cow but I'm struggling to find a gentler way of putting it...

Do you think that having unlimited access to "therapy" or talking about your issues could do more harm than good? Surely a small amount of constructive analysis with a goal in mind is better than giving in to the temptation of endless naval-gazing? Like if you don't have a trained person trying to help you get to a specific goal, you're potentially just feeding the worries?

Don't know if there is any research on this but surely there is a real danger of going further into a cave of problems and if you aren't being guided by a trained and experienced light?

I find ChatGPT overly compliant, which I don’t think is helpful in general - but especially not for therapy.

Also, reputable therapists will often train for years to get the experience they need, and I don’t think that can be easily replaced by AI. And the conversation you’ll have with your therapist forms part of an ongoing supportive process to help you process and understand your feelings, which I don’t think AI can replace either - because you’re not having the type of conversation with AI, with no real nuance (as it’s just responding to prompts and guidelines).

It really worries me that people are having to turn to AI for mental health support. This government really needs to make headway in sorting MH support - both in terms of accessibility and quality.

I’ve quit my MH team and am hoping to be removed from my GP surgery and rely purely on an AI support. It is consistent, it listens, it is helpful.

AI will presumably take what you say at face value. A therapist will take into account far more parameters e.g. tone, body language, intensity of talking, how long you pause before answering, eye contact etc.

With AI I think there's temptation to really consider answers before replying. Whereas actually what is sometime more valuable is how someone reacts intuitively to questions or comments. Otherwise it's a polished reply to AI instead of natural back and forward chat.

Well yes it can recognize and tell you whether someone has broken the law by their behavior and what might happen legally. But that's not when you're asking it for therapy, it's a different scenario entirely.

It's all very well saying "you have to be very specific with your prompts" - which I don't disagree with at all - but a non-expert user is not necessarily going to be very specific in order to get that exactly correct response.

So someone could type into a LLM, as I did, just saying "I have a migraine, what can I do to help with it" and get the same response I did. I am knowledgeable enough to recognise the incorrect advice and go ahead and take a dangerous dose of codeine and paracetamol, but not everyone is going to be, are they.

That's why these tools need to come with huge warnings on them, and people need to me much, much more careful about using them blindly, which is certainly the path we are going down currently.