Whether therapists
should use ChatGPT depends a lot on
how its used and what safeguards are in place. Heres a balanced look:
Where it can help
- Administrative support: Drafting notes, summaries, reminders, or psychoeducation handouts saves time so therapists can focus more on clients.
- Idea generation: Offering worksheets, coping strategies, or conversation prompts that the therapist can adapt for each client.
- Accessibility: Some therapists might use it between sessions to provide clients with general resources (with clear disclaimers).
- Professional development: Summarizing research, suggesting interventions, or explaining concepts.
Where its risky
- Therapeutic relationship: Clients usually need human presence, empathy, and nuanced listening that an AI cant replicate.
- Confidentiality: Inputting identifiable client information into ChatGPT may risk privacy unless safeguards are in place.
- Accuracy: While ChatGPT can provide evidence-based information, it can also generate incorrect or oversimplified suggestions if not carefully reviewed.
- Boundaries: Over-reliance on AI could dilute the therapists personal judgment, intuition, and expertise.
Best practice if used
- Keep client-identifiable details out of ChatGPT.
- Treat it as a tool for the therapist, not a replacement for therapy.
- Always fact-check and adapt suggestions to fit professional training and ethics.
- Be transparent with clients if AI is used in their care (e.g., to create educational material).
In short: ChatGPT can be useful for support tasks and inspiration, but therapy itself should stay human-led.