Do you know what people use ChatGPT for the most?
THERAPY.
I hope your first reaction is, concern.
Instinctively, anyone would likely feel that AI couldn’t function as therapy. But most people (who are not therapists) might not be able to cohesively articulate why.
As a licensed therapist, here’s my succinct explanation of “the why” ChatGPT and AI are not therapy:
Therapy utilizes the Therapeutic Relationship.
The Therapeutic Relationship is a relationship between two human people.
And without that human interaction, therapy does not exist.
ChatGPT is not the only brand benefiting in the societal erasure of the Therapeutic Relationship.
Subscription-based services that are calling themselves, “therapy platforms” like, BetterHelp and TalkSpace, intend to make profits by getting customers to believe they are buying magically affordable therapy.
The magic is that their, “therapy platform” product does not prioritize the Therapeutic Relationship.
Tech Companies want to use the therapist as a customer service agent. Offering minimal face-to-face time, they expect the therapist to endorse and sell the interactive gimmicks designed by the company.
Based on their definition, customers will have unlimited access to “therapy” on their subscription-based, “therapy platform”.
The Tech Company hires someone with a license, like a Driver’s License. The Tech Company is not held accountable for the behavior of the licensed employee, only the licensing board is; in this case, the DMV.
The gig-workers for any Tech Company, like Uber, are easily mistreated. The workers are not in the long-term plan for the TECHNOLOGY company.
When enough customers buy their product, tech companies begin replacing the gig-worker with additional tech; testing out their newly invented products, in stages.
This is why there are driver-less cars, driven by AI, picking up customers today.
Eventually, Tech Companies hope to replace Human Therapists with AI.
The Therapeutic Relationship is not the priority of any Tech Company, and therapists are being used as a means to their ends.
I wish there was a silver bullet to make therapy affordable, but Silicon Valley doesn’t have that solution.
Their sudden appearance in the Mental Health Industry has nothing to do with enhancing the Therapeutic Relationship, and everything to do with taking advantage of people who are seeking help for their profit.
They are taking advantage of the normalization of going to therapy, and redefining what therapy is to sell products that will fit their definition.
So, what is the Therapeutic Relationship and why should this interaction happen with a Human and not AI?
(If you’re a therapist reading this, you already know the answer. Here is my articulation.)
We react to different human beings differently, and how we emotionally react and behave with a Human-Therapist gives us an opportunity to learn about ourselves.
The Therapeutic Relationship exists to recreate the human interactions and relationships we have outside of the therapy interaction, in our real life, with other real human people, for us to understand our own thoughts, emotions, and behavior; in a contained environment with another real human, who is trained in psychotherapy.
This might sound strange, but no one is always supposed to like their therapist.
Sometimes, you are supposed to be upset, angry, confused, or disappointed by your therapist to learn; learn how to repair, learn how to hold yourself accountable, learn how to hold your Human-Therapist accountable, learn how to apologize, or learn how to accept care.
The Therapeutic Relationship helps you discover productive and healthy human interactions that can benefit the other relationships in your life.
Humans are not expected to interact with each other like happy robots, Human-Therapists are not supposed to be perfect humans, and the Therapeutic Relationship is a human relationship meant to guide you toward new understandings about yourself.
A tech company advertising a subscription-based service for “therapy” proves they don’t prioritize the Therapeutic Relationship.
Tech companies are systematically changing the definition of therapy for quick profit, in the same way McDonalds sells you, “food”.
Human-Therapists are not products to be used limitlessly, at anytime, like Spotify, or Netfilx, for a small monthly fee.
Human-Therapists are people with a limited amount of time in their day, and week.
Human-Therapists choose to build Therapeutic Relationships in substantially-timed sessions; with a small number of clients, who fit well within their practice, week after week.
Human-Therapists are not Chatbots you can turn on and off, at will; even if BetterHelp and TalkSpace would like customers to think otherwise.
Human-Therapists would not agree to limiting their sessions to twenty, or fifteen minutes, in an attempt to make more profit with more clients.
I am a Human-Therapist.
I’m a Licensed Marriage And Family Therapist in California.
I’ve volunteered for years at a suicide hotline while I obtained my Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology, and went on to gain additional training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy.
I would never agree to work for any “therapy platform” that would destroy the future of the Mental Health Industry.
As new generations have evolved to state that they strive to be Feminist, or Anti-Racist, or Inclusive of All Genders; therapists have entered an era where we must also state we are, Human-Therapists.
We are not products to be exploited by tech companies the way Uber and Amazon exploit their gig-economy workers.
“As new generations have evolved to state that they strive to be Feminist, or Anti-racist, or Inclusive of all genders, therapists have entered an era where we must also state we are, Human-Therapists.”
Many industries have long been preparing and combating the negative effects AI has had on their existence, and therapists must also join in this struggle.
Many workers, artists, & unions have already been fighting the damaging practices of Tech Companies like; Uber, Amazon, & Spotify.
BetterHelp and TalkSpace are no different than the rest.
The term, “Human-Therapist” might just be a free idea, but ideas are powerful.
I hope mental health providers can join me in advocating for the Mental Health Industry.
Unfortunately, Corporations are steps ahead. At the time of this writing, when you visit humantherapist.org you will be redirected to AItherapists.com.
This is shocking, but proves the point.
In response, I am now the proud owner of Human-Therapist.org (don’t forget the dash).
Human-Therapist.org is for Mental Health Providers
There is no fee, no monetary expectations. This is a URL to hold an idea therapists never had to articulate before.
Human-Therapist.org can bring therapist associations together in organizing against Silicon Valley’s takeover of the Mental Health Industry.
We can collaborate on how Mental Health Providers can utilize the Human-Therapist idea, and freely retool it’s definition, as long as the term Human-Therapist continues to support the Therapeutic Relationship.
Let’s stand united behind a new idea that corporations can’t erase.
Human-Therapist.org is for The Public
I hope therapists can educate future clients seeking therapy on “the why” benefits of the Therapeutic Relationship with a Human-Therapist.
When the public understands the value of the Therapeutic Relationship with a Human-Therapist, Tech Companies will have difficulty taking over our industry.
Human-Therapists believe and utilize the Therapeutic Relationship (no matter what therapy modality they specialize in)
A Human-Therapist actively takes a stance against tech companies from diluting and replacing the Therapeutic Relationship with AI.
A Human-Therapist will not work for subscription-based “therapy platforms” as a mental-health-gig-economy-worker.
A Human-Therapist will support a client’s well-being.
I hope the future of Human-Therapist.org can be a helpful first step for Mental Health Associations and Providers in building a cohesive and collective message we can use freely to resist against what is to come.
-Alejandro Daniel Pina, LMFT
Let’s Connect
Associations, nonprofits, and organizations who would like to build a coalition, and include their ideas (and logo) to the human-therapist.org website before launch, please reach out.
I hope we can further develop a clear understanding of what Human-Therapist means. And I hope real institutional policy can be formulated.
In the near future, the Human-Therapist badge will be available for websites, to make a symbolic stand against Tech Companies.
The idea can’t move forward without you. Please join the conversation to solidify our future.
HUMAN-THERAPIST WILL RETURN
at Human-Therapist.org