Vulnerable people turning to AI chatbots instead of professional therapists for mental health support could be \u201csliding into a dangerous abyss\u201d, psychotherapists have warned.<\/p>\n
Psychotherapists and psychiatristssaid they were increasingly seeing negative impacts of AI chatbots being used for mental health, such as fostering emotional dependence, exacerbating anxiety symptoms, self-diagnosis, or amplifying delusional thought patterns, dark thoughts and suicide ideation.<\/p>\n
Dr Lisa Morrison Coulthard, the director of professional standards, policy and research at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, said two-thirds of its members expressed concerns about AI therapy in a recent survey.<\/p>\n
Coulthard said: \u201cWithout proper understanding and oversight of AI therapy, we could be sliding into a dangerous abyss in which some of the most important elements of therapy are lost and vulnerable people are in the dark over safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re worried that although some receive helpful advice, other people may receive misleading or incorrect information about their mental health with potentially dangerous consequences. It\u2019s important to understand that therapy isn\u2019t about giving advice, it\u2019s about offering a safe space where you feel listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Paul Bradley, a specialist adviser on informatics for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said AI chatbots were \u201cnot a substitute for professional mental healthcare nor the vital relationship that doctors build with patients to support their recovery\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said appropriate safeguards were needed for digital tools to supplement clinical care, and anyone should be able to access talking therapy delivered by a mental health professional, for which greater state funding was needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cClinicians have training, supervision and risk-management processes which ensure they provide effective and safe care. So far, freely available digital technologies used outside of existing mental health services are not assessed and held to an equally high standard,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n
There are signs that companies and policymakers are starting to respond. This week<\/a> OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced plans to change how it responds to users who show emotional distress, after legal action from the family of a teenager who killed himself after months of chatbot conversations. Earlier in August the US state of Illinois became the first local government to ban AI chatbots<\/a> from acting as standalone therapists.<\/p>\n