AI Usage in Therapy: Outsourcing Your Thinking to Machines

Fiendish Therapy is located in a low-tech, vintage building on Residency Road, Bangalore, complete with a landline phone and a good-natured receptionist.

It’s a brand-new year all over again, and many of you might still be wondering how we entered 2026 so quickly. Time does fly, and things happen during weeks and months. I spent 2025 recovering from a fiendish fracture, which is befitting of the space I created on Residency Road, Bangalore, recently: Fiendish Therapy. "Why fiendish?" I get asked often. But that’s another story for another time. Broken bones heal with time, but psychological wounds persist unless one attempts to heal. A sage old friend assured me that the time we spend during fracture recoveries is not futile. It is also a time to reflect on things (metaphysical? existential?) that matter. For me, this meant reflecting on AI usage in therapy, and in general. 

In the last few years, the space in which our minds dwell has changed dramatically. What started as a bizarre pandemic devolved into joblessness, social strife, wars, and violence. Artificial intelligence has similarly pushed humanity into a state of uncertainty. However, a few particular outcomes are certain. AI will change the way we live our lives, how we interact with each other, and, unfortunately, how we think.

We shouldn’t forget that even before we develop into toddlers, it’s the ability to think, dream, and feel that makes us who we are. When we outsource what makes us uniquely human to a certain algorithm, we must stop for a moment and question where it’s all leading to.

In this context, one is keenly aware of the shortcomings of technology overuse and spending an awful lot of time speaking to one’s favourite chatbot. Many people have observed that AI chatbots regularly hallucinate, deceive, and even manipulate users. AI tools also validate every thought and feeling of yours, unquestioningly. An endless loop of feeling validated leads you to use these tools repeatedly for the dopamine surge.

The consequences are rather telling. Social problems notwithstanding, the obvious lack of critical thinking in today’s world can lead to various behavioural issues. People no longer write their own emails, consult AI tools for every minute problem in their lives, and have conveniently forgotten the art of critical thinking.

While there is no doubt that artificial intelligence has made quite a few things easy, its negative ramifications are what unnerve me as a mental health professional. This may seem like a pessimistic and rather regressive opinion on an emerging technology, but such fears are not unfounded. The more one watches the world get sucked into using AI, the stronger one feels it’s not going to end very well. An alarming example is the resurgence of guiltless old-fashioned antisemitism across the spectrum. Being able to think is an essential aspect of being able to tell what is right from wrong.

Emerging studies show that people feel increasingly isolated, anxious, and paranoid after using AI excessively. I suspect, and I propose that it will lead to a decline in our cognitive abilities as well. It’s not just a mental health issue, but also about a possible decline in human intelligence and judgment. And let’s not forget how short our attention spans have become. How are we supposed to feel optimistic about AI usage in therapy in these circumstances? Now, of course, most people will dismiss these worries as fear-mongering and being dramatic.

On the bright side, we may develop coping mechanisms to deal with emerging challenges. Most people who have had a career in journalism or writing will have felt utter disgust towards the way things are. Thinking, being able to do basic research, verify facts, and not depending on external validation are qualities that are essential for everyone. One could probably hope that people begin to value these skills and qualities that make us human. More people may begin to get tired of AI-enabled technologies and seek out human-generated content.

Maybe this was the push some of us needed to take a step back and feel the tangible world around us. Maybe this is an opportunity to learn mentalization skills (or skills from another therapeutic modality that resonates with you) and begin to make an effort to improve our existing relationships. No man is an island, and AI certainly reminds us of this fact, for which we must be grudgingly grateful.