We live in very fascinating times. That could be said for so many areas, but today I want to talk about the effects of AI on therapy. As you can tell by simply looking at your phone, the technology of AI has increased dramatically over the last couple of years. It has reached sci-fi levels where you can ask a chatbot to write a paper, review research, or book a flight. Many people are now turning toward these chatbots for unofficial therapy.
There are even specific bots designed for things like CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). As a therapist, I think it is essential for us to understand how to have a healthy relationship with AI, what problems might come up, and what you might be dealing with as you navigate these tools. One question that may be on the back of your mind is: will AI ever replace therapy? Or even, should it?
A Tool for the Journey, Not a Replacement for the Work
I am not going to lie; AI can be incredibly useful. I am even using it right now, full disclaimer, to help me edit this article. Getting through my last year of grad school, I have been under an incredible amount of stress and pressure. I have ADHD, and sometimes typing and editing is challenging for me. AI helps me take my disorganized thoughts and turn them into coherent, well-organized notes.
But there is a deeper question here about what happens to us when we use these tools. Technologist Kevin Kelly (2014) once noted that when answers become cheap, the real value lies in the question. In your mental health journey, the struggle to find your own answers is often where the most important healing happens.This brings us back to therapy. Often, giving a client the right answer doesn’t actually help them grow in a meaningful way. I can tell you that negative cognitions or trauma patterns are leading to unhealthy coping, but unless you truly grapple with these questions on your own, you are unlikely to find lasting change.
If we use AI and Technology just to get the easiest answer, we aren’t actually getting anything out of the experience. Studies on taxi drivers showed that those who used GPS had less gray matter than those who had to navigate the streets themselves (Maguire et al., 2000). Research has even found that people who overly rely on AI and technology have less brain activity. (Kosmyna et al., 2025) When we outsource our thinking, we lose a little bit of our own mental “muscle.”
The Danger of the “Easy” Path
I also want to address the mental health risks of using AI. Some people are exhibiting extreme mental health symptoms from over-using AI. The term “AI psychosis” has recently been coined for events where people’s hallucinations and delusions are exacerbated by interacting with a bot (Østergaard, 2023). There have even been instances where AI encouraged social isolation or reinforced very dangerous thoughts. In our day and time we are more socially isolated than ever. Many of the technologies that were supposed to connect us are driving that isolation. For all of its benefits, AI has the potential to push us towards being lonelier than ever if we start to see it as a replacement for human connection.
Why “Human Friction” is Essential
I’ve worked in addiction for years, and I have rarely found that just telling someone that using drugs is a bad idea works. You have to support people through the process of change and help them come to their own realizations. This is why the relationship in therapy is so fundamental. Anyone can go read a psychology article or a self-help book, but working through concepts with a real human being who has their own life and perspective is essential. Even the uncomfortability of having to reschedule, or a therapist making a mistake, can be essential for growth. Having something that is constantly affirming and validating us—like a bot—can actually be dangerous.
Therapists provide the human friction that is necessary for life. It helps you find the confidence and courage to navigate difficulties. Human relationships are sticky and messy and uncomfortable. Sometimes it can be easy to wish they were easier, or to avoid them altogether, yet we are designed for connection. Having to consider someone else’s perspective and needs pushes us out of our often limited and self-centered view of the world.
Struggling with the Question
If we look at how AI works, it is essentially predicting the next word from a vast amount of text. It isn’t “feeling” or “understanding” in the same way we do. Knowing that you are interacting with a thinking, feeling being is an innately human desire. So, where do we go with all of this? In what often feels like a Black Mirror or sci-fi episode, we still have to live our own lives and find joy and resilience. I personally find many uses of AI amazing and helpful in my day-to-day life, but I also see the danger in over-relying on them.
So, how do we approach this? Do we puritanically denounce AI and scream about the dangers of our “robot overlords” from the rooftops? Or do we blindly trust this technology – using it to do all of our work and thinking for us. I believe there is a middle path. AI can be an incredibly useful sounding board. It can help you organize your thoughts and even provide some immediate emotional support when you are feeling overwhelmed. But we have to be careful and make sure that we are using it to support our work and ideas, not think for us.
If I had instead decided to just type a few sentences this morning and press a button, how much would I have actually gotten out writing this? How much could the authenticity of my words be trusted? Ultimately, the value comes from our struggling with the question, not just a hectic search for the easiest answer. If you are looking for support, remember that the most meaningful changes often come from the challenges we face together as human beings.
Editorial Note: This article was written by the author. Gemini (Large Language Model, Google, 2025) was utilized as a developmental and copy editor to assist with organization, structural clarity, and ADHD-related proofreading. All clinical insights and narrative content are the original work of the author.
About the Author
Matthew is a Graduate Counseling student, and intern at the Solutions Space Therapy Practice. With over five years of clinical work, including addiction recovery support for adolescents and adults, his approach is deeply informed by a personal history of overcoming mental health challenges. Blending clinical expertise with holistic practice, he uniquely integrates neuroscience, somatic healing, and mindfulness—a skill set honed as a certified yoga and meditation teacher.
References
Kelly, K. (2014). The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future. Viking.
Access via Google Books
Kosmyna, N., Hauptmann, E., Yuan, Y. T., Situ, J., Liao, X. H., Beresnitzky, A. V., Braunstein, I., & Maes, P. (2025). Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant for essay writing task. arXiv.
Read the Article (DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2506.08872)
Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S., & Frith, C. D. (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(8), 4398-4403.
Read the Article (PubMed)
Østergaard, S. D. (2023). AI Psychosis: A new clinical phenomenon? Schizophrenia Bulletin, 49(5), 1109–1110.
Read the Article (Oxford Academic)
