Psychotherapy and Advice Machines: Interview with Self

Although it launched in 2022, ChatGPT still feels exciting and new. Everyday a new use case is discovered – from saving on groceries to planning day trips – and so it is not surprising that, at some point, people would want to use it as a digital psychotherapist. Unlike saving on groceries, its use as a treatment for trauma, anxiety or depression worries Madison Park’s founder and clinical director, Jordan Conrad, who discusses the limitations of AI as a psychotherapist in “Digitization and its Discontents: The Promise and Limitations of Digital Mental Health Interventions” published in the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy as well as here.

Recently TechRadar reached out to discuss whether the limitations discussed in Jordan’s article would interfere with AI being used to arbitrate disagreements in romantic relationships. But Self magazine wanted to know whether AI can provide helpful advice, not only for couples, but for individuals as well. In “How Good Is ChatGPT at Giving Life Advice, Really?” Jordan discusses what ChatGPT gets right, and what it (and users) get wrong, using AI for psychotherapy.

The first thing Jordan notices is that therapist’s are not simply advice-dispensing machines. Psychotherapy can help you to not only answer questions but, at least as importantly, frame the questions appropriately so that the answers are actually helpful. When you ask ChatGPT a question, you have already framed things in a certain way, presented reality in a certain light, and so the answers it provides have to fall in that frame.

When specific questions and the answers that ChatGPT gave are presented, Jordan explained that although the advice it gave was not always terrible, it wasn’t really what therapy is for. So, when Self asked ChatGPT “How do I tell a friend I wish they had invited me to their group hangout without inserting myself or seeming needy? Or is it best to not say anything?” Jordan explained “A therapist wouldn’t just gear you towards an answer or a nice way to communicate. They’d want you to explore what exactly is bothering you about being left out”

When pressed – for instance about whether you should say something to a friend in a relationship you disapprove of – Jordan explains that ChatGPT does alright, but doesn’t contextualize the question. “One question you have to ask is, Are you willing to risk the friendship over this? If they’re being physically or emotionally abused it is worth that risk. If their partner is a snob that sucks, that’s harder to bring up.”