"These are people who know what therapy looks and feels like. And they're still using and benefiting from AI. It's been easy to assume that most people using AI for emotional support were people who didn't have access to therapy, couldn't afford it, or didn't really understand the process. However, Rousmaniere et al. (2025) reported 87% of respondents who used AI for mental health support also had experience with human therapy."
"I'm not arguing AI is better than therapy. I don't believe that. But if people who have experience with a human therapist are turning to AI either in place of or as a supplement to therapy, we need to take a closer look at what is happening to possibly explain this. Some therapists have the belief that people should "know better" than to use a computer over human therapy. Yet, it seems people who understand therapy are quite comfortable chatting with an algorithm. Why?"
Many people with prior human therapy experience are using AI chatbots for mental health support and report benefits. Survey data found 87% of AI users had human therapy experience, and nearly 75% rated AI equal to or better than human therapy in comparative responses. Users seek immediate, pragmatic, on-demand strategies for emotional regulation and troubleshooting that AI can provide quickly. Some therapists assume AI users lack access or understanding of therapy, but repeated use by experienced therapy clients challenges that assumption. Clinician dismissal of AI tools risks alienating clients and widening distance in the therapeutic relationship.
Read at Psychology Today
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