Why ChatGPT Can’t Replace Real Therapists
Aimee Solis, LPC, LCPC, LMHC
I recently read an article published in Forbes that cited a research study comparing ChatGPT and real human therapists and (incorrectly!) concluded that AI is actually a better therapist than human therapists. I stumbled upon it on Facebook so I scrolled through the comments, reading therapist after therapist, panicking about the possibility that this career we’ve all invested our education, time, and money and for many of us for many years, becoming licensed and highly skilled, could be lost to AI while some were celebrating that there is a far quicker and cheaper way to feel better.
As a therapist myself, I felt a little worried, but then mostly felt annoyed. Quite honestly, I’m all out of panic these days. So I shared it with a few colleagues with the sidenote “can you believe this?!” and moved on.
Then life got busy, as it does, and I forgot about it. While I refocused on the here and now, it was digesting outside of my awareness. Then, I “woke up”, literally and figuratively, in the middle of the night to my baby crying and as I was consoling her back to sleep, I realized what I couldn’t put into words and felt the rage I wasn’t able to feel before and it is about so much more than me and my career. ChatGPT can never replace a human therapist and quality therapy and here’s why:
Texting is not therapy.
Now I get that there is a time and place for that kind of intervention and in-office therapy costs are at an all time high and the war between providers and insurance companies continues as insurance companies refuse to pay us livable wages, while they report billions in profits and that all of this contributes to problems with accessibility of quality mental health care. I digress… But, texting with a bot or a real therapist is not quality therapy and it cannot compare to meeting face to face with a licensed professional and receiving the mental health care that we’ve been trained in and continue to train in as our field changes and develops. It just can’t.
The Study is Flawed.
Since text therapy is not an adequate stand-alone mental health service for anyone truly struggling beyond an acute mild stressor, the conclusion that AI is a better therapist than a trained licensed mental health professional is not only inaccurate, but irresponsible. We need to be cautious of grand and overreaching claims, looking beyond “the curtain”. We must be vigilant and critical of AI in healthcare for many reasons, paying attention to how for-profit companies will exploit these claims and opportunities at human being’s and society’s expense.
Why AI Can Never Replace a Trained, Licensed, and Experienced Therapist
Much of what human beings struggle with is feeling alone and misunderstood in their struggles and painful emotions. Connection and belonging are crucial to healing. PTSD is a disorder that actually develops not just as a result of something awful and traumatic happening to someone, but also as a result of that person not having the external support to cope with it. Human connection and belonging are non-negotiable to mental health.
The “Rat Park” study illustrates this beautifully and informs mental health and addictions treatment. In the study, there were 2 cages of rats and in both cages, there were 2 water bottles: one was clean water and the other was laced with cocaine. The cages were very different from each other: one was a rat park filled with a variety of good food, tunnels, things to do and many friends, the other was barren and void of tunnels and things to do with the other rats and lacked a variety of food.
The result? The rats in “rat park” didn’t like the drugged water. None of the rats in the rat park drank the drugged water until they died. While all the rats who were in the barren cage alone and unhappy became heavy users, some drinking the drugged water to their own death, none of the rats who had a happy environment did.
Rat park mimics a safe and supportive home environment, ideal for children to grow and explore in and to develop a sense of belonging. While the barren cage represents what it is like to grow up or live isolated, feeling misunderstood, to lack resources, and to feel disconnected from others. The drugs were providing a sense of connection and peace that the rats in the barren cage could not get from their environment and the lack of connection and the reliance on a substance often resulted in premature death due to overdose.
Be Thoughtful and Weary of Your Reliance on AI
While AI may be able to help you update your resume, it cannot help you deeply heal from trauma or process difficult emotions without human connection. AI will never help us feel like we belong or truly feel seen. You will always know that you aren’t talking to a person. We all need to feel like we aren’t alone in our big feelings and dark moments. While a human therapist is human and flawed so they won’t always say the “right thing”, that’s actually part of what makes the process healing assuming your therapist is typically “good enough”. Recognizing your therapist’s mistakes and their humanity makes you feel better about your own imperfections too and helps us accept that it’s ok to be imperfect because not only is our therapist telling us so, but they are showing us as well. Not to mention that getting it right isn’t the only goal in human relationships. Getting it wrong and repairing some of that is just as important and healthy.
Good Therapy is So Much More Than Advice.
And finally, as an experienced therapist myself, it is very rare that I give my clients advice. I practice a type of therapy called Brainspotting which is a mindfulness-based technique that AI could never replicate, given that it is crucial that a human therapist is holding the frame and space with the client.
In Brainspotting sessions with my clients, it is my role to be with them as they process their trauma, painful emotions, or difficult experiences and to connect with themselves to determine what is right for them. When my clients are able to regulate their emotions through Brainspotting, they can connect to themselves, their knowing, and can access their intuition as well as parts of the brain that aren’t online when they are triggered or their capacity to cope with the present moment is overwhelmed. Then they can make decisions that are best for them.
In being a therapist, I have had the privilege of working with clients who have been able to leave difficult marriages or careers because they realized that’s what was best for them after regulating through fear and processing past trauma. I’ve also worked with a client who made meaning from tragic loss through starting up their own small business. I’ve helped couples learn to co-regulate and transform their relationships. The best part is that I, as a real therapist, connect with my clients emotionally and energetically. I reflect on their resiliency and strengths, I hold space for their pain and struggles, my humanity and imperfection allows them to feel seen and like they belong in this world. I never tell them what to do, but rather I support their journey and their process. I lean into discomfort with them and we lean into human connection together.
It is imperative for us now, for our mental health, and for our future generations that we lean into discomfort together, reach out to one another, and lean away from over-reliance on AI or our future generations may find themselves in a barren rat cage.
Aimee is the owner and executive director of Mindful Springs Counseling, a nationwide 100% independently owned and operated mental health center specializing in non-traditional therapy services like Brainspotting and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy. Mindful Springs has locations in Colorado, Washington and Illinois.