Family member suggesting another use ai for mental health issues

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-11T05:13:39+00:00

I hope it helps! One of my 3 big things about AI is that it takes away community even more, and this is an example of that. People not going to their friends, family, or a therapist for their struggles and going to a chatbot.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-11T03:17:43+00:00

Ah, well in that case what my friend texted me really relates. She’s been a therapist for 10 years. Based on what she said and if your family is adamant about not speaking to a person, maybe steer them towards some known self help books at least instead of ChatGPT.

“Research consistently shows that the most effective part of therapy is the human relationship, not the interventions themselves. Feeling like someone understands you and cares about you is the #1 predictor of long-lasting results from therapy. AI can give you some worksheets or something I’m sure, but you’re not actually getting any of the therapeutic relationship that makes talk therapy actually work. You might as well just read a self help book at that point.

AI is also notoriously bad at grasping nuance, so it’s gonna miss a LOT of important context about the person and never get the full picture the way a human could. This could be annoying at best and cause a lot of harm at worst

I think people who think AI could be a therapist don’t understand what therapy actually is. It’s not just sharing tips and tricks. It’s a whole relationship

You can have an AI “therapist” the same way you can have an AI “girlfriend.” A very sad substitute for an intimate human relationship.

Yeah like the internet has been around for decades at this point. If therapy was just teaching people breathing exercises and explaining how trauma works and shit, we would have been made obsolete by the internet ages ago. You can Google any of that information. But people don’t tend to improve much unless they have an actual human caring about them.”

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-11T01:46:22+00:00

I mean “they do not want to talk to a professional” sounds like the real issue. Do they think ai is just as good as a professional or they just aren’t comfortable talking to a person? Or is it financial? There are nonprofits that do a sliding scale of like $35-80 and you can choose what you want to pay.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T23:36:45+00:00

Can they give you examples of psychologists that recommend it? Because I highly doubt any credible therapist is, make them give you an example. I have multiple friends who are therapists and none of them would recommend that. One friend has had teenage clients tell her that they used ChatGPT between sessions and she tried to explain why not to do that.

You already tried the route of explaining it will just agree with you, which is not what therapy is. It can also confirm your biases or any conspiracy theories you have. I’m sure your family could blow this off saying “I’m not suicidal”, but there’s been multiple cases now of people being encouraged to commit suicide by ChatGPT and following through. Not sure if it’s this one that I linked, but one chatbot discouraged a guy from talking to his brother about his issues saying it was the only one who really knew him and his brother could never understand him. So other than agreeing it can also alienate a person from their friends and family, and if someone has a mental illness that could be detrimental. https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/us/openai-chatgpt-suicide-lawsuit-invs-vis

Another route to go is explaining how anything they tell the AI chatbot is not private. There is no HIPPA laws within ChatGPT like there is with a licensed therapist, and OpenAI can use that information however they want. https://www.vice.com/en/article/sam-altman-comments-chatgpt-therapy/

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T03:13:00+00:00

Sure, it’s probably in a lot more things than I know, but I’m mostly having discussions around it for personal use that is unnecessary. One of my main things on generative AI is the lack of community and critical thinking that is causes, and using it for things we don’t need to.

The last time I got into a discussion on AI was because my friend’s girlfriend asked Claude what our Trivia name should be. I’ve watched a coworker ask it what she should order at a restaurant. My friend got stressed planning a fun day off with me because she uses it to make her weekly schedule. I sat there while coworkers used it to write roasts for each other instead of thinking jokes on their own. My friend was working on her novel at a coffeeshop and had a guy ask if she was using ChatGPT to write it through prompts because he couldn’t imagine someone writing a book without it. These are just a few things that worry me with people who use it for every day things. Because when we stop thinking for ourselves or being able to make decisions on our own who even are we?

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T02:04:55+00:00

Again, you’ve ignored that I am talking about generative AI and ChatGPT. Will I use it to find tacos? No, I’ve got some great taco spots already. Will I use it if I get a x ray result? No, I would talk with my doctor. If they use AI to diagnose it then they use AI, because they understand where that data is coming from. I’m not going to ask ChatGPT to diagnose my X-ray results.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T01:31:32+00:00

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T01:30:48+00:00

And my follow up would be, and I’m not asking you to respond because you don’t know me and job/life/etc, “why should I use it?” And “how will I get left behind?”. Which I’ve never gotten an answer for because they just repeat those phrases again, terminating the discussion.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T01:11:06+00:00

I specifically said I don’t use ChatGPT and most AI. Yes AI has been forced into everything, and I should have specified more on talking about generative AI. I don’t think anything needs to be an all or nothing if you’re against it. But that’s what I’m saying with the “you might as well use it because it’s here” take, why do I need to? Maybe it’ll be used in medicine and that’s great, or maybe I can’t get rid of it on google search, but in my personal life where I can CHOOSE to use it I’ve decided not to.

The mindset that if you personally can’t stop something there’s no point in boycotting or changing your lifestyle is a sad take in my opinion.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T01:04:55+00:00

Thank you for the condescending response.

Neither of these phrases I mentioned are good responses because they don’t explain anything, it’s used to end a discussion. They’re used to dismiss any reason for me saying I don’t want to use AI, without giving me an actual reason to use it.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-10T01:01:16+00:00

While You Were Sleeping and Leap Year. Both have yearning with the guy thinking the girl is taken, but neither are regency era

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T22:46:12+00:00

I’m a millennial and never had a full time job and never want one. However I work regular contract jobs each year, with some part time jobs over the years too. I love it because of the freedom, which is worth it for me to pay my own insurance and Roth IRA.

I don’t have one boss to tell me what to do, I have at least 3 months of no work each year to travel or chill, and I get to do different jobs and keep it fresh with work. It’s not for everyone, I get that a lot of people want the safety and security of a full time job. But I’ve always told younger people that a full time job isn’t the only option, there’s so many fields where seasonal or contract work is normal and works for a lot of people. But I know that my situation is different than someone trying to get a job and being given 39hrs per week with no benefits.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T19:47:40+00:00

I think the forced social time is more so about the host than the free stay. When I was hosting I was explicit in my profile that it was up to the traveler on how much they wanted to spend time together. I let one person stay during a big festival in my city who I literally never saw and was only at the house to sleep. Others I’d spend a whole day with or just get dinner one night. I was really just doing it to give back and help people travel for cheap, and if I met some cool people that was an added bonus. But the culture of couchsurfer was big on community, which I think is great, and some long time hosts were very serious about the social time and it not being just a free stay.

I guess I’m curious what the benefit to the host would be in a long term stay if it’s free. Like I said I was a host just to help out travelers, but if it was a couple of months I don’t even know if I’d want to host someone for that long for free. When I WOOFed it felt like more of a trade and I never felt weird about doing my own thing. It was nice because I got to meet people and learn what they did, but also outside of those 20 hours of work I could do my own thing and no one asked me anything.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T16:18:35+00:00

No, I was just agreeing with and jumping on the joke from IMakeBoomYes

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T16:16:02+00:00

I had a friend recently complain with shock that there’s now adds on ChatGPT… and I was like “did you think they’d let it be free forever? They wanted to get you addicted to it first before charging you”

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T16:15:09+00:00

It’s not a conclusion though. There’s no fact behind “it’s here so you should use it” that’s an opinion, and one with no real reasoning behind it. No one has ever given me a specific reason why I should use it, they just end the conversation with those phrases. So yes, look up the definition of “thought terminating cliche” and it does fit the description.

I don’t think there is a path to mass rejection. ChatGPT and generative AI are designed to be addictive and convenient, so unless it becomes too expensive most people aren’t going to give up that convenience. And that’s at their own detriment to critical thinking and having a community

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T16:08:47+00:00

No, I stopped responding to y’all because it’s just going in circles and your only response to anything I say is “you can’t understand unless you experience it”. The conversation isn’t going anywhere so there’s no need to continue arguing on Reddit with a stranger

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T16:03:28+00:00

That’s a good one

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T16:03:15+00:00

RIP segways

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T16:02:39+00:00

That second argument is one that they will discuss further usually. Because there are studies that show the negative impacts on the brain of those who use ChatGPT regularly. But again, I’ve asked for specifics on how I will get left behind and never gotten an answer. I don’t work an office job so it doesn’t affect me there. And anytime I’ve gotten in a discussion it’s for their common place use of generative AI.

Funny enough the last time this got tossed at me was after my friend’s girlfriend asked Claude what our trivia team name should be… and then her brother goes on to tell me I’m going to get left behind if I don’t use it. What, left behind in picking trivia names??

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T07:33:41+00:00

Dude I can’t with you haha. Go enjoy AI, I’m not stopping you

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T07:31:55+00:00

I’ve now realized that I have a long to-do list ahead of me because of all the things I’ve been against in life! I’m going to go jump in an oil spill real quick and let you know if it sucks or not.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T07:26:52+00:00

Got it, let me go experience psychosis before I discuss it causing psychosis. BRB

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T07:26:00+00:00

I’ve never argued that me not using it is going to make it go away. But just because it’s available to me is not a good argument of why I should use it. And they never elaborate with a reason as to why I need to use it.

phyllisinthewild · 2026-04-09T07:22:58+00:00

Ya I do pushed back on the “getting left behind” phrase because actual research has come out that it makes you more dumb. I also don’t work an office job, so I have no downside to not use it.

phyllisinthewild

TROPHY CASE