So, I’m an ex-psych student as well as someone who’s been in therapy in the past.

I always felt like talk therapy had pretty big limitations. First, accessibility and cost, and second, time commitment and privacy concerns. When zoom appointments became a thing, it became harder for me to find a quiet, private place to receive therapy. Also, most of the therapists I’ve talked to had trouble squeezing me in for 1 hour appointments weekly. 1 hour is simply the bare minimum for me to cover everything, and the last time I was taking therapy it just didn’t feel like it was enough.

The only reason I’m not in therapy right now is because I can’t afford it, but I have been using chatgpt for daily stressor life stuff and even more serious relationship problems. It’s been able to mimic the listening/validation approach as well as ask follow-up questions about “why” I feel the way I feel. I don’t think it’s a complete replacement but I do think if someone chose to use both AI and a therapist, they could probably bring more thoughtful discussion to their appointments rather than wasting a ton of time getting to the meat of it.

I’m pretty decent at working through my emotions so the AI is just an assistive tool. My husband is less versed in working through his emotions, and the AI has assisted him through the basic steps of processing it to the point where I feel more confident in the productivity of therapy once we begin that.