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Finding a therapist can be overwhelming, especially with long wait lists, high costs, fear of judgment and not being the right fit. In comes AI therapy, promising instant and affordable support. However, AI therapy is still in its early stages. Some examples of AI use include a diary with a chat feature or mere prompts to help you reflect on your life. People are experimenting with whether or not it is safe and makes a difference to their lives.
Discover why people hail AI therapy as the next big thing in mental wellness and why some are right to be cautious so you can build your own expectations and relationship with AI. Here are the pros and cons of AI therapy.
Artificial intelligence has many strengths — superb pattern recognition, deep personalization and 24/7 availability, to name a few. These strengths can be applied to therapy to make the healing process more effective.
AI therapy can act as a supplemental companion or addition to the many mental health resources already available, such as therapy providers, lessons, meditation apps and blogs.
One huge perk of AI therapy is that it’s always available. That means you can contact it in case of a panic attack at 3 AM, social anxiety before a big project meeting or a random wave of melancholy on Sunday evening. People can use AI therapy to track daily mood, process small frustrations and practice skills more consistently.
Access to 24/7 care is especially crucial in places where therapy is scarce. Although traditional therapy is more effective, AI therapy chatbots can still decrease anxiety by 30% according to the Hamilton scale.
A typical therapy session costs a lot, which can deter some people from visiting therapists regularly, stalling treatment. On the other hand, AI therapy apps have subscription models that are significantly more affordable. This removes the barrier to therapy to students, young professionals and those without health insurance coverage.
People are more likely to open up to AI therapy because of anonymity. Admitting you need help and describing your issues is arguably the hardest part of the healing journey. AI therapy can serve as a training ground to help people become more comfortable reflecting on their feelings.
Additionally, people can process topics that are harder to talk about with AI because of a lack of fear of judgment. AI therapy can give them space to explore thoughts and feelings they might not feel safe sharing with others.
Not everything about AI therapy is good, however. Like with any new technology, structure, standards and regulations are still being built in order to make the experience safer for people to interact with. Always be informed when dealing with AI when sorting out your feelings.
A big con of AI therapy is that it doesn’t really have a lived experience to bounce off ideas and share experiences that helped others in real life. The result is a data-driven approach to your thoughts and feelings versus empathic wisdom. A human therapist is more likely to pick up what you don’t say — through sarcasm, inside jokes, sighs and cultural context. Sometimes, this is more important than what you say.
Moreover, genuine human connections and interactions, such as a therapeutic alliance that promotes trust and care, are important for healing, especially for deep-seated trauma and behavioral changes.
Many popular AI chatbots have vague privacy policies that can harm you and your data. For example, your mood logs and deepest fears may be used to target you for ads. Make sure to do your due diligence and read through the apps’ privacy policies so you can better protect yourself.
AI therapy is neither recommended nor adequate for high-crisis situations. For example, when a user expresses suicidal ideation. A good app should immediately end the chat and provide real-life resources, such as crisis hotlines. Moreover, AI is trained on human-made data which can reflect societal biases.
There are still many gray areas when it comes to enforcing rules and determining who is liable for adverse outcomes.
It’s important to view your journey to healing as having different components. AI therapy is not the solution to everything, but it can be one tool. Sometimes you might need rest, social connection, movement or professional help.
If you’re keen on using AI, try blended approaches such as daily mood journaling with chatbots or meditation apps to cultivate mindfulness. Then you can use human therapists for deep inner work.
To know if AI therapy can be an effective tool for you, here are some of the questions you need to answer:
By answering these questions before you use AI, you become more informed about its advantages and disadvantages.
At the end of the day, AI is neither good or bad. It is a tool that can effectively spot patterns and generate sufficient knowledge about a topic. AI therapy is one of the most rapidly evolving tools in mental wellness. It shouldn’t replace real-life therapists and human connections. However, it is a great addition to your healing journey.
Ultimately, you are the expert of yourself. Always stay curious, informed and vigilant, especially with newer technologies. Trust your intuition and build a support system that can help you feel and be your best.
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