TikTok Users Claim ChatGPT Is Better Than Therapy — So As A Mentally Ill Girlie, I Tried It

Before we have some fun, let me just state that if you need emergent help with your mental health, do not turn to ChatGPT. Get that help, girlie!!! You deserve the world and more, and we all love you!!! But if you’re looking for NON-EMERGENT help and you’ve been spending a lil too much on sweet treats lately (I see you), then have you ever wondered if the answer might be sitting on the same laptop that you binge Gilmore Girls on? I know I have.

People have been turning to AI as a source of free therapy. — and claiming it has worked better than their past real, human therapists. I’m currently not in therapy and just enjoying a daily dose of Lexapro (no grapefruit for me, thanks!), but 2024 has been a fucking tough year, and I could def use a helping hand. Rather than entering waitlists and forking out a tidy sum for therapy, I just followed TikTok’s advice to use ChatGPT as a therapist. AI might be coming for my job, but I’m not the only one.

As for my qualifications for this investigation, I’ve got more mental illnesses than a Diet Coke, which has multi-syllable ingredients. Does my borderline personality disorder cause my depression, anxiety, and eating disorder? Maybe, or maybe they’re just fun little toppings on my trauma salad. Either way, I’ve been to my fair share of therapists in my time. Some were traumatic experiences I later had to unpack with a new therapist, some were fine but kinda pointless, and some were literally lifesaving (miss u, B!!!).

Oh, also I should probably mention that I have a degree in psychology, specializing in clinical psychology. Lol, can you imagine if I’d kept studying and gotten the qualifications to actually see people? Yikes!! Anyway, let’s try AI therapy!!

Is it ethical to use ChatGPT for therapy?

Here comes the spoilsport!!! Ruining another fun trend!!!! Okay, okay, I just want to do my journalistic duty and explore the ethics of using ChatGPT, or AI in general, as a tool for therapy — she’s a journalist, *hair flick*.

Okay, firstly, it isn’t cool to steal someone’s job. That’s coming from the very unbiased position of a writer who is literally the first to go when robots take over. People don’t deserve to have their roles taken by science. That’s the entire plot of the Industrial Revolution, and maybe of Robocop, too.

Secondly, ChatGPT therapy, or AI therapy in general, loses that personal touch. People complain about how we lose human connection through self-checkout tills, and while I don’t agree with that (anxious girlie over here), I do see their point for self-therapy. A lot of therapy is about your connection with your practitioner, which is why it can be such a hit or miss. Therapy centers on the unsaid, the body language, the hesitation, as much as the words you actually say (or type).

Thirdly, therapy isn’t just getting advice. Your therapist isn’t just an expert on all things life — soz to break it to you. Not only are they a listening ear, but also someone with a bird’s eye view of everything going on who can point out patterns. They ask the right questions as much as they offer any answers. It offers an accountability I can’t imagine getting online.

Finally, erm, DATA. I’m an avid TikTok user (like, how do people go to the bathroom without it?). But even I’m a lil worried about giving away SO MUCH personal data to ChatGPT. I’m worried that a year from now, an AI-made film will come out about a messy, self-sabotaging writer girlie with very familiar issues… Especially as my problems are fascinating.

But we can’t deny it is free, and therapy is not; plus, I’m never one to shy away from a challenge.

How to use ChatGPT for therapy

Okay, so you can’t just dive into therapy with ChatGPT; you gotta offer her some foreplay first. Giving ChaptGPT a character to work with is helpful, maybe even a therapist-sounding name. Tell them exactly what you want them to do and what they should give in response to your points. It also helps to do your ‘therapy’ in one session, so you’ve got everything within your memory.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Fleurine Tideman

Then, present your issues, thoughts, experiences, or whatever else you’d raise in therapy. Knowing what to say can be difficult, as that’s a large reason therapists have the job they do. But just say what comes to mind when you start the chat.

My sessions with ChatGPT

I’m used to airing my dirty laundry online, but this really feels like something different. I’ve never had therapy online, except for Zoom sessions during the pandemic, obviously. But I took a self-imposed journalistic oath, so here you go, enjoy my trauma!!!

Image Credit: Courtesy of Fleurine Tideman

ChatGPT was a lot more helpful than I expected. It didn’t just listen and offer standard responses like I thought it would. I got a little carried away talking to it, and yeah, I might need an actual therapist again soon, lol. It dived into my specific issues and got me talking quicker than a frat boy with a bottle of tequila. They were sympathetic and, dare I say it, human.

But I did still struggle to really get deep as I was typing, not talking, and so I couldn’t fall into the kind of free speech that leads to epiphanies in therapy. Things could also be a little repetitive when they drew from the same website repeatedly. Then again, my problems are probs quite repetitive, haha. I didn’t feel heard, and that made me tire of it eventually. ChatGPT misses that bigger picture of a trained therapist, but it does offer helpful tidbits and great points of thought. I think it’s definitely a more accessible kind of therapy, but it replaces real therapy the way a fleshlight replaces real sex. Do with that what you will.