As more people use AI chatbots to vent about stress and seek emotional support, questions remain about whether artificial intelligence can be trusted with mental health. Psychiatrist Dr. Marlynn Wei discusses the risks and realities.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

AI chatbots are increasingly being used by individuals seeking emotional support and therapy-like interactions. While these tools can provide validation and a nonjudgmental space, experts caution that they are not substitutes for licensed mental health professionals. Concerns include lack of privacy protections, potential for dependency, and inability to assess crisis situations or safety risks. 

Some studies suggest AI chatbots can reduce anxiety, but human therapists remain more effective. There are also emerging reports of AI being woven into existing mental health issues, including cases of 'AI psychosis.' Experts recommend that those in crisis seek help from licensed professionals, and note that AI can be useful for finding resources but not for clinical evaluation.

The rise of AI chatbots in mental health support

AI has gotten so good at making you feel like you're talking to a person, right, like a real person, flesh and blood. But sometimes we need a reminder. AI is not your friend, it's not your guru, it's definitely not a romantic partner. But could it be your therapist? That is the question tech companies and psychologists are grappling with as more people turn to generalized chatbots, not just for quick advice or recipes, but to vent about personal struggles and to even seek emotional support. By the way, we actually tested it out. And by we, I mean our producer, Aubrey. She entered a prompt into ChatGPT, asking it to approach the conversation like a therapist. It responded, in part, quote, I'm not a licensed medical health professional, but I can offer a supportive, nonjudgmental space to explore what you're going through. Our producer posed as someone who was struggling with work stress. The responses followed a similar pattern. It started with a few lines of validation, followed by a question intended to continue the conversation. But many of these chatbots are programmed to prioritize user experience, meaning they're more likely to be affirming and less likely to push back. So should we trust AI with our mental health? Here to sort this out is psychiatrist and AI medical health consultant, Dr. Marlene Way, who just wrote about this in Psychology Today. Dr. Way, thank you so much for joining us. What are the main concerns that people like you have when folks use AI for therapy? Thanks for having me here. I think that the main concerns are that it was not originally designed or trained for therapy, but it is now the number one use. So actually, a recent study earlier this year found that people are using AI for therapy and companionship. But the concerns are that it's not designed for that. So you have definitely risks to be aware of. Did I hear you correctly? You said it's the number one use for people going to AI is therapy? Yes, therapy and companionship. So people are turning to these general purpose AI chatbots to rely on them emotionally or for support or to help them navigate personal issues. But one of the things that we should know about it is that it's actually not private in the same way that talking to a therapist is. So that information that you're sharing with the AI is not protected in the same way. That's one of the main risks. And the other one is actually that sometimes when you're engaging too much with it and you're relying too much on it, it can create some dependency issues. And that's also another problem. It's also not trained to detect risk assessment. So if you're in a crisis situation, it's a more dangerous use for AI. Doctor, we're talking about the risks, but people are turning to it. So they must feel some benefits. Are there genuine benefits that can be had? Definitely. There was a study of 100 women in a war zone, and they found that using an AI friend actually reduced anxiety about 30%. But they compared it with giving access to human therapists, and that reduced anxiety by 50%. So human therapy is more beneficial, and I think that there are still benefits to having an AI-trained therapist. But using a general purpose AI is a little bit more risky. So Doctor, how does someone know if they might be able to benefit from AI? Because people can be in life or death situations. They could be suicidal. How does someone know if it's safe for them to go to AI versus a therapist? I think that if one is in a crisis situation and they're experiencing suicidal ideation or thoughts, it's really important to see a licensed human clinical professional to help you navigate that and to get resources. AI can be a way to find out about the crisis resources. For example, you can prompt it to say, what are the nearby resources for me for a crisis mental health situation in my city? That's a great way to use AI to access resources. But AI is not right now trained to do a clinical evaluation of your safety risk. You know, in the dawn of radio, people who had mental health issues, including psychosis, would start saying they felt like radio signals were in their brains, their teeth could conduct radio signals. Do you see or is there any evidence that AI is becoming woven into existing mental health issues or maybe even exacerbating them? Absolutely. So with every wave of technology, we see it being integrated into some of these psychotic episodes. And in particular, there's this new phenomenon in the last year being reported in the media regarding AI psychosis. And these are case reports. We don't know a whole lot about them yet because it's emerging. But case reports of people having three kind of categories of psychotic thoughts around AI. One of them is romantic. So people believing that they're in a relationship with this AI chatbot. The second is feeling like the AI is almost godlike. And then the third is feeling they're having special powers or information from AI and that they're now in this other alternative reality. So there's definitely some dangers with overusing AI, but there's also some incredible benefits that you mentioned as well. This is so hard because people in a crisis have a hard time seeing that they're in a crisis. And so that's when friends and family really need to come together and pay attention to what people are doing on the phones. Dr. Wei, thank you so much.

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The rise of AI chatbots in mental health support

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