Can AI Replace Therapists? | Psychiatrist Explains

The current buzz surrounds the impact of AI on diverse sectors, including mental health. The question on everyone's mind: Can AI conduct therapy effectively? My perspective? Undoubtedly, yes. However, can an AI fully replace therapists? Probably not. In this video, we'll delve into the intricacies of AI's role in mental health care.

The rise of artificial intelligence has sparked curiosity regarding its potential in the realm of therapy. While AI demonstrates significant promise in augmenting mental health services, the essence of human connection and empathy, intrinsic to therapeutic relationships, might remain beyond its reach.

▼ Timestamps ▼
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00:15 - Can an AI replace therapists?
00:47 - How therapy works
02:40 - Why all therapy methods are equally effective
03:50 - Development of behavior protocols
04:44 - Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
05:26 - The two elements of therapy
06:30 - How we begin to see how AI can do therapy
07:05 - Can my job be done by artificial intelligence?
07:30 - AI substituting other relationships

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#healthygamergg #ai #therapy

[LocallyConstantDuck]

My bigger concern is not that AI can replace humans in relationships, it is that people will insist they can and ignore the downsides of such a substitution. Like how social media substituted for human interaction in a way that initially seemed effective (look at how many people i talk to! Look at how many new people i meet!) and led to a generation of lonely, socially inept people who really struggle in actual relationships bc social media chased superficial metrics and didnt force people to develop the more difficult cognitive skills.

[Tredogg]

Plot twist: Dr. K has actually been an AI therapist the whole time

[Z_bra]

You have to give this man props. He consistently discusses topics in a way that is educational but easy to follow. Even when the topics are mostly speculative, he does it in a way that is as unbiased as possible, and makes it relevant to us. He gave a succinct history of modern psychology and applied it to the advent of AI, and he did it all in under 10 minutes!

[pckyart]

One of the things that was best in therapy for me was my therapist’s shock at my past, my therapist admitting in horror no child should ever have to experience what I did. The abject horror she had is what really started helping me heal. It helped me understand things that self-help books upon books could not— real human reaction to a situation that in turn triggered some kind of response in me to recognize it was traumatic, torturous, and not my fault. It’s one of the biggest reasons I feel AI could never truly replace therapy.

[Wyulliam]

Instead of seeing AI as a therapist, try using it as an interactive journey. I don't expect AI to fix me, but I explain what I'm feeling and what I'm thinking, just like I would if I was writing in a paper (which helps a lot), and on top of it, you can ask questions about what you are thinking to make you think about it even more. So I wouldn't see AI as a replacement for a therapist, I would see it as a tool to improve journaling

[lucas]

I think ai relationships might be like fast food. Many many people will partake because they will be easier in the short term, but you will actually be starving for the fundamental nutrients you need.

[kylespevak]

I completely agree that the relationship with a therapist is the most important part. I experimentally took therapy for a few months when I was younger and I just felt like I couldn't share anything with the therapist. He was an older gentleman that was very sweet and I just didn't feel like I could share my true self with him and inner thoughts without overwhelming him and scaring him

[kittymoo]

Finding the right therapist is important, not everyone responds to everything the same way. I had a therapist not too long ago that often challenged me at all the wrong times. Left me feeling depressed and worthless. I don't particularly blame this therapist or think she was bad at her job, but she very much was a bad fit for me. I've sense switched therapist, and I find that having a therapist with a basic understanding of and experience with autism helps me a lot. While my current therapist may not completely understanding me she does have some knowledge of my condition to work from, that helps her relate to me better, as well as helps her make better judgements on when to challenge me. But finding a therapist with even a basic understanding of autism is rather difficult, especially if you're working within the limits of who your insurance provider will allow you to see. As of now I'm having to travel an hour away to see my current therapist, and she is the closest one with any experience at all with my specific issues.

So when we start talking about AI therapist, how do you make sure they can relate to humans who might be neurodivergent or have different needs? You mentioned CBT and it makes sense that an AI would excel at that sort of treatment. But CBT doesn't work for everyone, from my understanding people on the spectrum as well as many with PTSD often don't respond well to CBT. Will the AI be able to pick up on when something isn't working or might be causing further problems and pull back to try other treatment methods. If the AI is going to treat CBT or any other treatment as a one size fits all solution, or if it only knows one method of treatment. Then we need human intervention to make sure that the treatment is right for the patient before starting. I also don't think we can really overstate how much the human interaction element of therapy can help some people.

The human mind is a deeply complicated thing and we're still learning so much about it. Handing it's care over to an AI isn't the right move, but using AI as one of many tools to help us take care of and manage our mental health isn't a bad idea. My worry isn't about what AI is capable of, my worry is what will capitalist institutions will do with AI, and how will that effect us? For example I'd worry that insurance companies trying to save money will push people towards AI therapy regardless of whether it's the right treatment for the patient. As is insurance companies and society at large honestly, don't tend to take mental health issues all that seriously to begin with.

And that was a long rambling comment that few people are ever going to read!

[ianemory]

As someone in IT our match towards AI is terrifying. It reminds me of our trek to social media we touted it as this great revolution without analyzing the negatives. No we know that by in large social media isn't great for us and we're going to make the same mistakes with AI

[BRAVEGLASS]

I think previously the notion from a lot of videos on this channel has been that it's really important for people to be able to process their emotions and think through things on their own, how humans used to do a lot of that and how we can do that in this new sort of digital landscape.

When it comes to the idea of an AI Dr. K, or AI therapists in general, it is pretty tempting to be able to have convenient, private, and safe access to conversations and a sort of "second voice" of any kind to explore our thoughts and feelings with, but I'm inclined to think it might miss that aspect which we've previously seen as being really important-- the whole "dedicated time and space" aspect.

It's still not super clear in my head (personally) why that's important, (still learning I guess, ) but it seems to be important at least, and I feel like AI-- with how utterly constant the access is to it-- wouldn't help people gain the *skill* of thinking things through. It wouldn't replace *therapists* as much as it would replace *our own thinking, * I fear.

Doesn't it seem like "solving" this problem would just have us looping back around to not being able to process anything, as, whenever we begin to feel the need to process something, we'd end up just pulling out our phones and asking the AI to think for us?

I'm not sure. It feels like it could be helpful to a lot of people, and maybe it's how we sort of "fight fire with fire" in a digital age-- combat constantly accessible distraction by making a constantly accessible distraction that helps us process(?)-- but I'm too skeptical for now.

Feels like AI is just hurting a lot of people in a lot of different fields, I'm not sure the people using it are happier than the people before it.

[NeuroScientician]

I am actually currently working on a chatbot based, guided journaling app, gently pushing users into various protocols. I have a few friends test-driving it for me. One of the ideas I am trying to make work is based around sentiment analysis. It allows monitoring of mental state of users in time with the idea of optimising scheduling of visits with actual therapist. It can be done without any actual info ever leaving the phone, as privacy and trust here is paramount.

[missnikkigiron]

I feel like it might lead to people craving genuine human connection more than ever to be honest. It’s kinda like the AI musicians too, it’s cool to hear your favorite singer who passed sing a song they never sang before but at the same time it doesn’t quite feel the same. I feel like the pandemic also shifted us into that more authentic mindset too. Especially when it comes to branding.

[chemieju]

As of right now i think its a great starting point for people seeking help, a sort of interactive and intelligent FAQ.
Maybe, for "smaller" problems, it can help. If people have more serious issues it could help them find an actual therapist.

[casualnerdjason]

We’re talking about this A TON in the health care industry. Awesome to see this video hit. Thank you!

[anniesheldon]

Considering the fact that loneliness and lack of human connection is an epidemic in todays day n age, i think ai replacing therapists and more jobs is a terrible idea.

[DeKevers]

One of your videos about addiction has really helped me this week and helped me see how physical it was. Thank you bro.

[letsreadtextbook]

As someone who regularly vent to chatgpt, I assure you it won't make people feel they can substitute human therapist with it.
Idk other AIs, but ChatGPT is good at reminding users that it's not human and often mentions to look for support from actual people. It's meant to be used as safe space to vent without judgement, while still nudging you toward cliche-ly healthy mindset. And sometimes that's what I need, ya know? Just personal robot assistant to keep negative thoughts away.

[blindpony]

This video just made me appreciate my therapist more. I'd say that not only relationship, but actual meeting another person and being in their presence is important. I started therapy via skype due to covid, but we switched to real when it was possible and looking the other person in the eye makes a huge difference. I think I'm gonna tell him tomorrow, that I'm glad he's my therapist.

[Lucy-ksqb]

I remember reading about some situations where certain people have no ability for various reasons to trust other human beings which might make therapy feel sort of pointless for them. If a person can understand an AI as something completely outside of the human experience, they may be able to understand its motives and operation that allows them to integrate information it provides in a way that they might not be likely to do with any person. It can be a very useful tool for helping to build the framework that might make therapy possible with a human therapist later.

[stefanroche]

I really really appreciate how much content and topics you’ve covered that I not only wondered about, but didn’t even know I wondered about.