My patients use ChatGPT for therapy. Now I use it too | Sarah Dargouth
A practicing therapist writes about patients using ChatGPT as a substitute for mental health support, and acknowledges she has begun using it herself. She sees the appeal but flags real risks in replacing human therapeutic relationships with AI.
Why this matters: Millions of people already talk to AI instead of therapists. Cost, access, and stigma make that choice feel rational. The problem is ChatGPT is not bound by the ethics, licensing, or liability that a human therapist is. It does not keep clinical records in regulated systems, and there is no clear accountability when its advice goes wrong. When someone in a mental health crisis gets a confident-sounding answer from a chatbot, that is not just a design feature. It is a gap in patient protection that nobody has really closed yet.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy
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