If you have ever found yourself typing how you are feeling into an AI chatbot or a therapy app at midnight because there was nobody else to talk to, you are not alone. The use of AI as a therapeutic tool has exploded the last couple of years and millions of people now turn to artificial intelligence for emotional support before they ever consider speaking to a human being. In a world where online counselling waiting lists stretch for months and the cost of private therapy puts it out of reach for many, it is not hard to see why. AI therapy tools are available at any hour, they do not judge you, and they do not charge you by the session. For someone who has never spoken to another person about what is going on inside, that accessibility can feel like a genuine lifeline.
But there is a conversation we need to have about what these tools can and cannot do for your mental health. Because the difference between using AI wisely and using it in a way that slowly makes things worse is something not enough people are talking about.
What AI gets right?
The biggest barrier to men seeking mental health support is not that they do not want help. It is that asking for help has been made to feel like weakness. Walking into a therapist's office and sitting opposite a complete stranger requires a level of vulnerability that many men have spent their entire lives being told to suppress. AI therapy apps remove that barrier entirely. You can say things to a chatbot that you have never said out loud to another human being, and sometimes finding the words for the very first time is where the process of healing begins.
AI is also available in a way that human support sometimes cannot be. It won’t cancel a session and it does not have a difficult day that bleeds into your session. For someone at the very beginning of understanding what they are carrying, that consistency can be genuinely useful.
Where AI goes wrong?
Here is where things get more complicated, and this is the part that not many people are being honest about. Millions of people are now turning to AI for therapy before they turn to a human, and they are often left with more questions than answers because the messy, complicated feelings that come with real anxiety simply do not fit into an AI prompt box.
That is not a small problem. Anxiety thrives on reassurance seeking. It needs you to check, to confirm, to be told repeatedly that everything is going to be okay. An AI therapy app will provide that reassurance endlessly and without question. Every time it does, it quietly reinforces the message that the threat was real and that you needed rescuing from it. What feels like comfort in the moment is actually feeding the very cycle that keeps anxiety alive. Using AI as a substitute when you are genuinely struggling with anxiety does not help you manage it. It teaches you to defer it, and deferral is precisely what keeps anxiety going.
There is also something that rarely gets discussed in conversations about AI therapy tools. AI makes mistakes, significant ones. It can misread what you are saying, offer inaccurate information and in some cases reinforce thought patterns that are genuinely harmful. When you are in a fragile emotional state, a mistake by an AI is not just an inconvenience. It can do real damage. These tools are not clinically trained, they are not regulated and they are not accountable in the way a qualified therapist is.
Beyond all of that, the relationship between a client and their therapist is itself one of the most powerful mechanisms of change in the entire therapeutic process. An AI cannot sit with your silence. It cannot notice that you tense up every time a particular subject comes up. It cannot challenge you carefully, patiently and with your long term wellbeing in mind rather than your immediate comfort.
So what should you actually do with AI?
AI is not going away, and there is no point in pretending otherwise. The question is how you use it. As a companion it has real value, as a space to organise your thoughts, to reflect between therapy sessions, or to help you put words to something you have been struggling to articulate. What it cannot be is a substitute for human connection or professional support.
If you are using AI as a therapeutic tools because you are struggling and do not know where to start, let them be the thing that helps you take the first step toward finding real support, not the things that convince you that you do not need it. Online counselling has made professional support more accessible than it has ever been. You do not need a waiting room. You do not need to travel anywhere. You can speak to a qualified therapist from wherever you are, at a time that works for you.
The feelings that matter most, the ones that are keeping you stuck, will not fit neatly into a chat window. They need space, time and another human being who is trained to help you carry them. That is still where the real work happens.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the risks of using AI therapy apps for mental health support?
AI therapy apps can provide inaccurate information, reinforce unhelpful thinking patterns and, particularly for people dealing with anxiety, feed the cycle of reassurance seeking that keeps anxiety going. They are not clinically regulated and cannot offer the accountable, skilled support that a qualified therapist provides. For anyone struggling with their mental health, they can be used as a companion tool alongside professional support rather than as a replacement for it.
Can AI make anxiety worse?
Yes. Anxiety is powered by reassurance seeking, and AI therapy tools provide that reassurance without limit. Over time this strengthens avoidance patterns rather than helping you build the resilience needed to genuinely manage anxiety. If you are struggling with anxiety, working with a qualified therapist through online counselling is a far more effective route than relying exclusively on an AI app.
Is online counselling as effective as seeing a therapist in person?
Research consistently shows that online counselling can be just as effective as in person therapy for a wide range of mental health concerns. It also removes many of the practical barriers that stop people from seeking help in the first place, including cost, travel and the anxiety that can come with walking into a clinical setting for the first time.
George Papachristodoulou