Ai chat bot for mental health support.

[Fluffybuns88]

This week I reached out to the gp as I felt I'm starting to develop some post partum anxiety and I wanted to get on top of it before it became a problem.

During the appointment I was "prescribed" an AI chat bot, I'm actually not kidding, it's called Limbic. I didn't realise that's what it was at the time and it was part of my self referral to talking therapies. The GP was reluctant to prescribe meds without first trying the AI chat bot, but luckily managed to advocate and get a prescription for something that I know will help as I've had them before.

Anyway, AIBU to think that being prescribed AI therapy is not just insulting but also potentially dangerous especially for people experiencing more severe mental health problems?

Regardless of your opinion on AI, I think it's worth noting that they didn't send you to ChatGPT to have a mental health chat. This will be a specifically developed AI agent that works from a bounded context with human oversight. It will likely only be recommended to patients that meet requirements, including those an assessment of how severe their need is.

Some folks might find it useful especially while waiting for an appointment for a therapist.

I haven't particularly heard of that one but have heard of other ones that are specifically developed for mental health and are quite useful between appointments