Imagine this: It’s 2045. Psychologists, therapists, and counsellors have been fully replaced by AI. No more appointments, just open a free, professional AI mental health app on your phone, anytime, anywhere.

Hypothetical, yes, but with AI rapidly advancing and replacing jobs across industries, it raises a real question:

Will Artificial Intelligence replace Mental Health Support?

As a psychology undergraduate, I sometimes catch myself thinking: “Will AI make it harder for me to find a job? What if I spend years and thousands of dollars on a degree, only to be replaced by a machine?”. After talking with course mates, I realised I wasn’t alone; this is a common fear among psych students.

So I started looking into what AI actually does in the mental health space. One classmate mentioned that people, including themselves, were turning to ChatGPT for support. I was curious, so I tried it out myself. Here’s a brief snippet from that chat, where ChatGPT played the role of a “therapist” and I played the role of a “client”.

The conversation showed how ChatGPT stepped into the role of a “therapist,” using key mental health support skills with phrases like:

“...it sounds like you’re pushing through a lot of pressures and expectations…”
“That takes real strength”
“Wanting to know it’ll all be worth it is very human”

It reflected on the experience of the user, validated the emotions felt by the user and empowered the user using encouraging words, which are key skills in providing mental health support.
I wondered, if ChatGPT was able to successfully deliver the basic level of mental health support, what else can it do for mental health support?

How could AI be applied for Mental Health Support in the future?

Early detection
AI analyses speech, social media, and behaviour to spot early signs of depression or anxiety using tools like NLP and sentiment analysis.

Diagnostic support
NLP helps detect emotional and language cues in speech or text, supporting clinicians and powering mental health chatbots.

However, at the moment, AI lacks the ability to detect nuances and complexities in mental health issues, compromising the accuracy of its detection of these issues and its competency for diagnostic support.

Virtual Reality therapy
AI-driven VR provides safe exposure therapy for trauma and anxiety, helping users build coping skills.

Personalized treatment
AI tailors treatment plans using data like medical history, genetics, and lifestyle for better outcomes.

Mental health education
AI chatbots offer self-help tools and info, while platforms keep professionals updated on new research and methods.

Learn more about The Role of AI in Revolutionising Mental Health Care.

Disadvantages of using AI for Mental Health Support

Mental health care is complex and rooted in human connection. While AI has made progress and can be integrated into mental health support, it often falls short in understanding the depth of our emotions and the nuances of mental health. With that in mind, let’s explore some of the disadvantages AI may bring to mental health support.

Empathy and trust
Therapy relies on empathy, intuition, and understanding non-verbal cues, things AI can’t truly replicate. AI lacks the emotional depth needed to fully support human vulnerability and healing.
Human connection
AI may understand behaviour, but it can’t replace the power of real human relationships. In group therapy, connection and belonging are key to meaningful progress and emphasises the power of social connection in mental health recovery. Explore more about Calm Collective’s peer support programme, Calm Circles!
Ethical concerns
AI in mental health raises privacy, data security, and bias issues. Ethical decisions in therapy require human judgement, not algorithms. Furthermore, AI does not take into account nuances in mental health concerns.

It also tends to validate all of the user’s concerns in a form of confirmation bias, even to extreme ends, which can push people into further mental health spirals.

Learn more about Chatbots Leading Users Deeper into Mental Illness.

What do Psychologists, Therapists and Counsellors Uniquely Offer

Physicality and genuine emotional understanding

Psychologists, therapists, and counsellors build real trust through empathy face-to-face, which is a richer therapeutic experience for clients, something AI can’t authentically replicate.

Co-regulation and safety

Human interaction provides a safe, supportive space that helps clients regulate emotions and cope more effectively.

Professional intuition and ethics

They use clinical judgement to navigate complex situations, adapt flexibly, and make ethical decisions that AI isn’t equipped to handle.

Reading non-verbal cues.

Humans can interpret facial expressions, tone, and body language, crucial context that AI chatbots miss entirely.

Therapeutic Alliance

Human therapists sometimes implement relational aspects into their sessions with their clients, which provides a corrective experience (e.g. ruptures and repairs).

Therapeutic alliance, which is a measure of the therapist’s and client’s mutual engagement in the therapy sessions, is essential to symptom reduction and treatment success, regardless of treatment technique or theoretical concepts.

Learn more about GenAI’s Role in Mental Health:“Is ChatGPT the New Psychologist?”, an Instagram post by Heartscape Psychology’s Intern, Gladys Yip.

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Good News for my Fellow Psychology Undergraduates

A recent study across nine experiments with over 6,000 participants found that humans prefer empathetic responses when believed to come from another human, even when AI stated the same response, because it feels more supportive and emotionally satisfying. Furthermore, the participants preferred to wait longer for a human reply compared to an immediate response from AI. This highlights the importance of and demand for human mental health professionals in the mental health care industry.

Read more about this recent study on how People Prefer Human Empathy, Even When AI Says the Same Thing.

To my fellow psychology undergraduates, our fears about this issue surrounding the possibility of AI taking over our future jobs and careers are completely valid and understandable. While navigating this already competitive industry, let’s continue to normalise mental health, remain hopeful for our future and embrace AI as a collaborative tool rather than fearing its inevitable growth.

References

Will Artificial Intelligence replace Mental Health Support?