My patients use ChatGPT for therapy. Now I use it too | Sarah Dargouth
TL;DR
Sarah Darghouth describes how patients already use ChatGPT as a therapy coach: for relationship doubts, marital conflict and quick emotional framing that can sometimes genuinely help. The clinical psychologist names real risks: false information, worsened anxiety, isolation, possible delusional dynamics, suicidal thinking and the upload of intimate life details to Big Tech.
Nauti's Take
The strongest part is the honesty: even a therapist who knows the risks reaches for the machine when she needs quick support. That is why a simple prohibition will not hold.
The better debate is which use is harm reduction, which use becomes dangerous substitute therapy, and who is accountable when a system sounds convincing in a crisis but is wrong. Human therapy does not need to romanticize itself, but it does need to name more clearly what it can do better than a polished response engine.
Briefingshow
The essay matters because it avoids the easy anti-AI therapy line. Darghouth shows the real pull: availability, clear language and emotional mirroring at the exact moment people need it. The hard question is no longer whether AI enters mental health, but which parts of care become more accessible and which parts break when care becomes too frictionless.
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