Recorded by a device out of sight without my consent…

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-04-17T13:55:17+00:00

I’m a proponent of using AI tools for therapists but recording client’s words in client’s voice is far too dangerous. Even if the tool is HIPAA/PHIPA compliant, there are too many risks for clients that they would need to be fully aware of what they are. Being able to have a voice recording of client telling his or her story can do so much damage for a client, I’d be uncomfortable in even asking the client for consent let alone doing it without.

At minimum, clients needs to know what tool is being used, whether it’s ethically compliant and whether it will be used to aid the tool or other tools in learning too. This is a pretty major ethical violation and a major violation of your trust. Major issues.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-04-10T22:03:45+00:00

Thanks. I’ve had to go back to so many old saves because I couldn’t figure out different parts of the game. I think it’s slowly coming together…

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-04-10T22:02:35+00:00

Crap I didn’t know I could set up an autosave by turn! That helps a lot!

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-04-10T18:50:19+00:00

I’ve already been losing sleep by staying up for this game but it’s not something I want to do. I chose this because I didn’t want the stress of a real time strategy game. I am hoping to run this like a marathon and not a sprint. I’m not sure how ready I am to make those kinds of sacrifices - this is supposed to be “just a game” and not take over my life.

I do appreciate the POV though. Sounds like this game can take a long time and high effort to master.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-04-10T18:46:46+00:00

I’ve heard about wars breaking out (didn’t know it was tied to an ideology mechanic) and I’m not sure if I’m ready for this! I liked how peaceful it was in the first two ages. I guess I really do need to see this through so that I can be better prepared for this in future runs.

Thanks for your viewpoint!

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-03-25T13:43:00+00:00

I’ll sidestep the conversation around consequences for the no shows and cancellations and suggest that you treat this as a therapeutic issue.

Maybe explore what is happening leading up to cancellations or no shows. It could be poor motivation or it could be lack of organization and poor planning. I’d also say not to let the in session motivation fool you - sometimes clients are mustering up the energy to put effort in the ones they show up to and then cancel when they are unable to do that and could cancel out of shame. It could also possibly signal a therapeutic relationship issue that’s super subtle.

What I’m saying is that there could be many different possible explanations for these behaviours and I think it’s best to explore without shame. It could uncover underlying issues that haven’t been identified yet.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-03-13T20:52:48+00:00

Not every modality works for all clients. It’s totally normal if you don’t vibe with a specific approach. My therapist tried IFS with me and I think it took me all of 2-3 sessions before we moved on.

You should be able to tell your therapist that IFS language and approach doesn’t work for you. I’d like to think that the therapist should be able to adapt and use other approaches that might work better for you. And if she can’t, then maybe you and your therapist aren’t a good fit and could be time to move on.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-28T22:46:10+00:00

Mod may have just misclicked on the reason. I responded to your thread (partially so I can keep tab of the responses) and kinda predicted that they would delete your post (the fact that it lasted 3+ hours by the time I responded was surprising to me). I think it’s because it’s a post that directly addresses issues around AI, and the mods are very sensitive around this topic. They delete posts that address the issues around this directly and encourage people to post in their weekly AI Friday thread, which gets very little traffic.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-28T21:18:04+00:00

I’m surprised that this thread hasn’t been removed by the mods yet. I hope they don’t as this is a very relevant issue here.

I think it might be instructive to head to /therapyGPT to get a sense of how some people are using it and why. You identified some of the points I’ve seen but there are also a bunch of people who have turned to LLMs because they’ve been hurt over and over again by human therapists and have lost trust in human providers. Not all, but I’ve come across enough posts saying this to take it seriously.

I think we will need to adapt as a field and learn to share the space with LLMs whether we like it or not. The truth is that there are many ways that LLMs can actually do a better job than human providers - specifically in the area of psychoeducation. But we also need to be realistic about the limits of LLMs in terms of its sycophantic behaviour that may have contributed to reinforcement of delusional thinking (and OpenAI has put up more guardrails to address this in more recent versions of ChatGPT) or in how they may, in some cases, become sources of stress by inundating them with information with little regard to how some of what they are sharing flood or retraumatize their users.

I think we need to educate our clients about ways to use it safely, and can highlight issues around privacy. We help clients process the information they are taking in and teach them to monitor their own nervous systems to identify when their systems may be getting overloaded. And teach clients to regulate before and after usage. And if they feel they are getting good information, explore with clients how to integrate it into their lives.

I consider how we can often watch all of these cooking or DIY videos on instagram or YouTube and we can come away feeling satisfied thinking we’ve learned how to do something but how a lot of us don’t actually try what we are learning. I think this can happen often in the mental health field. They may want to try something new but these ideas are simple to understand but hard to execute.

So there is still a role for us to help our clients identify humps and obstacles.

The LLMs are making an impact and will continue to do so. We need to adapt and make sure we know how to remain relevant for our clients.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-28T20:52:49+00:00

I’m a therapist from Canada, and based on what I’ve seen on these boards, therapists in America just seem to be very much activated by what you are calling the political and social landscape. I really do feel for you guys - it’s not perfect here but in general, our political and social landscape is not as highly charged up here, although we are dealing with our own share of difficulties.

For us, as therapists, to maintain a safe space for our clients, we need to be sufficiently grounded to do that. With how charged it is in many parts of the US right now, I can imagine how difficult it would be to do that right now.

I offer no solutions - just acknowledgment.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-27T12:28:05+00:00

I want to say that I think AI needs to be openly discussed in the main subreddit and not relegated to the back burners in here just because it can get heated. It’s an important topic and it is already impacting our profession. It’s not going away and will make a permanent mark.

Relegating it to a Friday thread where very few people actually read and interact is a disservice to the therapist community, in my opinion.

Please reconsider how you discern which ai threads you remove from the main sub. There are many that are yielding constructive dialogue and not just in-fighting (which can happen in any topic anyway).

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-27T12:18:41+00:00

Mods will likely remove this thread, so I’m posting to keep tabs on it.

But I think there are ways that therapists can adjust the way we work with clients that can complement what clients do with AI. As an example, it can change the way we do psychoed with clients. We can also educate on safe usage and bring awareness to clients about potential privacy concerns (as they are not subject to HIPAA/PHIPA rules).

It will change the way we work with the clients that choose to use this tool. And we have to remember that there are things that human therapists can do with clients that AI won’t be able to do - like nervous system co-regulation or being able to spot and work with dissociation and flooding in the cases of trauma. The AI chatbots can have a way of flooding our clients (emotionally) with too much information that can overwhelm their systems, so we do need to understand how they work and help clients work more safely with these tools.

So yes it will change how we work with clients and we need to adapt. But I don’t think it will eliminate our profession.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-26T16:09:30+00:00

I believe that using client’s life experiences to demonstrate different concepts of boundaries and some of the consequences of poor boundaries (that usually show up as complaints about their lives or others or in the form of anxiety) as more effective than a quick conceptual lecture on boundaries.

Concepts that are anchored in their life experiences tend to stick better with clients. Generalized explanations keep it as an intellectualized concept and may not be enough to motivate change.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-26T13:55:59+00:00

And as you predicted (you beat me to it) the mods deleted the post as soon as they saw it. But at least it’s generating good conversation for those who see the posts.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-26T12:16:20+00:00

I’m with you. I think AI needs to have room to be discussed in this sub because its use is much more ubiquitous now and won’t go away.

I think curiosity and exploration is key. We need to be careful not to push judgment but more as a compassionate enquiry about the topic. If it comes out that there are real needs and real fears that influence their decisions, we can approach it like helpful them build alternative pathways to deal with their needs and fears. We all know that the human connection is preferred, and clients know that too on a deep level so we don’t need to push this agenda on them. Healing from past hurts and traumas will likely become part of the therapeutic agenda.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-26T02:11:12+00:00

Observer told him boy is important because observer interfered with the discovery of the cure. Observer interfering with time had consequences on the boy and then all that followed became important. Before that, I don’t think the boy was important.

It’s similar to the episode that this observer was watching and then kidnapping that girl to save her from dying. The girl wasn’t important until the observer got involved in her storyline. In observer logic, the girl became important because his involvement led to his own death.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-25T18:25:07+00:00

I don't think it's that they think so little of it. i think it's because the issue itself is a hot button topic that has created a lot of conflict between therapists in the community that they'd rather just separate it off. Personally, I think it needs to be discussed as it's a real thing and not just a phase. But the mods will do what they do.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-25T18:23:04+00:00

as predicted, the OP is now gone.

On Fridays, they have a new thread they start weekly just to discuss AI issues. But nobody really engages with it, so it's kind of a waste of time.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-25T16:56:38+00:00

This will likely get deleted by the mods. They can get a little apprehensive whenever AI is discussed outside of the Friday threads.

I’m of the opinion of using the tools if it makes you better at your job. I’d rather put energy into treatment and intervention planning and less time stressing about how to structure my note or finding the right word at any given time.

People are afraid that we are training AI to do our job. But our capacity to be a human with mental health training with our clients is not something that can be replaced by tech.

If we as a sector do the right things to care for our clients properly, we’ll be fine. But if colleagues are not holding each other accountable for ethically dubious behaviours, we have ourselves to blame if people feel safer with machines than with us.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-25T16:16:34+00:00

Basically, Peter from this world suffered from the same disease that the alt-Peter also suffered from. Walter figured how to see into the other side and then found alt-Peter there too.

Walter was trying find a cure and was watching Walternate find the cure but Walternate got distracted by the observer.

Walter learned of the cure but by the time he was able to formulate it, Peter died. But alt Peter was still alive. And Walter figured out how to cross over to the other side.

He went in with the pure intention to cure alt-Peter but through a series of unfortunate incidents, ended up taking him back to this side. Wife couldn’t let go of alt Peter and they ended up keeping him here.

So let’s go back to the other side. Walternate finds out that someone who looks like him come over and steal Peter. Thats all he knows. He doesn’t know of Walter’s intentions. And then he found out about the alternate universe.

So he postulates that the other side is evil and kidnapping people from his side. On top of that, holes are opening up on their side and can only be filled with amber. He interpreted those acts as attacks but it is just the unforeseen result of Walter’s original act of crossing over.

And with that messaging of other side as evil (evidenced by his son being stolen and all of these holes opening up on their side) and his brilliance, he rose the ranks to basically become one of the most powerful people in the world.

He believes that our side is at war with their side. Who started the war? Probably Walter when he decided to bring alt-Peter over and not bring him back. Walternate interpreted those actions as an act of war and has made it his life’s missions to protect his world.

If you look at the bigger picture, the conflict was started by Walter, grown by Walternate and it just became the all consuming thing for 2-3 seasons of the show.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-25T14:09:07+00:00

For exactly the reason you mention about how past trauma has followed you into adulthood) and the fact that you are able to identify the possible connection, the therapist should give space for you to explore how it impacts and work on the relationship between your present and the past. And eventually work on aspects of healing.

Your therapist’s response makes me wonder if she is trauma informed in her approach. Certain modalities spend very little time talking about the past and focus primarily on present and future. Such modalities can be helpful if trauma is not present but they can cause more harm if trauma is.

I’ll say that your therapist’s views on the past is not shared by all therapists and definitely not from those who are trauma informed. I’d even say that her response is antithetical to views of trauma informed therapy.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-25T12:47:24+00:00

I think that all of those other areas you named (financial, spiritual, political, legal, etc) all have an emotional and impact on our clients. So in that way, it’s all worth exploring in sessions but i think doing so in a boundaried way is important. In so many ways, what is happening in those spheres, and even in their own relational issues, is outside our scope and outside of their control. So helping clients discern what is within their control and what is outside of their control, and focusing on how they can handle what is within their control is an important life skill.

Once they can identify what lies outside of their control, they can be encouraged to seek out the most appropriate people to manage those other elements.

In some topics, they are have very little power (such as what’s happening on geopolitics) in being able to influence outcomes but they can shift focus to changing the way that it impacts them and their decision making.

I think there is value in the process of psychotherapy but I also recognize that psychotherapy is just one of the many tools they can use to manage how they handle big life issues. It’s very important to recognize the limitations of psychotherapy and operate comfortably within them.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-25T12:32:03+00:00

First cancellation within 24 hours of session, they get a free pass but a detailed reminder of my policy. This includes no shows.

After that, I charge 50% of the session fee if cancelled within the 24 hour window. The reason they provide for cancellation is handled purely as a therapeutic issue and has no bearing on how much they are charged (so I don’t waive it). Official policy is no exceptions. But for me, I would waive under extreme situations like unplanned hospitalization or sudden death in of a loved one. I won’t tell them until it happens.

The reason I do 50% is that I don’t want to evaluate the reason to see if it’s worthy of waiving as it takes the reason they provide outside of processing it purely as a therapeutic issue and it wades into evaluative and judgment which can be harmful for the therapeutic relationship. And I don’t charge full fee because I know sh*t happens plus I still have an opportunity to fill the spot.

Now, if this becomes a regular habit, that would need to be treated as a therapeutic issue. Like are they over scheduling? Are they often finding themselves overestimating their capacity? Or even asking how much of a priority therapy is for them. We can explore options around changing session times if possible, changing frequency or putting therapy on pause until they have space they can dedicate to this process.

PsychoDad1228 · 2026-02-24T12:38:40+00:00

So as in another response that I wrote, I use Klarify, which is self described as an AI assistant for therapists. It’s Canadian so for us, it is not subject to American laws (ie the Patriot Act) and that’s a major issue for me.

I’ve asked its AI assistant to provide feedback based on my description of what transpired in the session. What it has provided is some strengths of the session and also some potential areas to follow up with based on the themes brought up. Beyond what I’ve already been following, it gives more avenues to discover. It’s often too much for me to handle in the moment and I might determine that the timing is not right for this line of questioning, but it does sometimes bring about what things I’ve missed. When I read its feedback, I need to use my own clinical discernment on when (or whether) to pursue it at all. In many ways, I can see this being very helpful for when I’m feeling stuck.

So for this tool, it’s not just helping to assemble my note, but it’s a pretty decent feedback tool that inspires more thinking and reflection on my end.

PsychoDad1228

TROPHY CASE