Clients Are Using AI for Emotional Support. Therapy Should Make Space to Talk About It.

As AI tools like Chat GPT become more integrated into daily life, more people are using them for emotional support, reflection, journaling, problem-solving, and even quasi-therapeutic conversations.

While caution is absolutely warranted, especially around replacing actual psychotherapy with AI, the growing wave of warnings about “chatbot therapy” may unintentionally create shame or secrecy around something many clients are already doing.

That creates a clinical problem, as presented in this NYT essay.

Why Shame Does Not Help

When people feel judged or discouraged, they are less likely to discuss honestly how they are using AI, what they are getting from it, and where it may be helping or harming them. The conversation can quickly become polarized: either AI is dangerous and should be avoided, or it is treated as a substitute for human connection and clinical care. Neither stance is particularly helpful.

A more nuanced approach is needed.

Why Clients Use AI

Many clients are not using AI because they believe it is equivalent to therapy. Often they are using it because it is immediate, accessible, nonjudgmental, available at 2 a.m., and emotionally responsive in ways that can feel comforting. Some people use it to organize thoughts before therapy sessions, practice difficult conversations, explore emotions, or reduce isolation between appointments.

Bringing AI Into the Therapy Room

Rather than shutting the conversation down, therapists can help clients think critically and thoughtfully about AI use:

• What feels helpful about it?

• What feels missing?

• Are there moments where AI reinforces avoidance, reassurance-seeking, or emotional dependency?

• Does it increase insight, or simply provide certainty and validation?

• How does it affect real-world relationships and emotional tolerance?

These are rich therapeutic conversations.

Final Thoughts

AI can never replace the complexity, mutuality, accountability, and human attunement of psychotherapy. But pretending clients are not using these tools, or responding with immediate alarm, risks pushing an important part of modern emotional life underground.

The goal should not be shame or blanket discouragement. It should be openness, curiosity, discernment, and guidance.