Many clients already use AI tools such as ChatGPT for journaling, emotional regulation, and realtime support. AI chat tools can help with pattern recognition, grounding exercises, and practicing new perspectives. Real-time interactive uses can interrupt rumination and provide accessible coping strategies between sessions. Significant risks include privacy and data security, misinformation, and client over-reliance on automated supports. Surveys report substantial user adoption, including roughly 28% using AI for mental health and therapy/companionship as a leading use case. Therapist experimentation with AI can increase clinician insight and improve guidance on safe, ethical integration of these tools into care.
Just last week, a client told me she woke up in the middle of the night with her mind racing. Instead of spiraling for hours, she opened ChatGPT, something we'd already talked about in session, and started interactive journaling. Within 15 minutes, she was falling back to sleep. That's not a replacement for therapy. That's a real-time application of therapeutic tools, made accessible when she needed them most.
A 2024 study in JMIR Mental Health showed 28% of people were using AI for mental health support, while a study earlier this year in Harvard Business Review demonstrated therapy/companionship is the number one reason people use AI. People are using AI chat tools for journaling, emotional regulation, and real-time emotional support.
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