Man Undergoing Therapy Feels Betrayed When Therapist Gives Him ChatGPT-Sounding, Generic Response

He poured his heart out with a message only to be given a generic response.

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• Published in Interesting
• November 27, 2023

Recognizing that you need therapy to create a healthier mental state is a courageous first step toward personal growth and well-being. This method allows you to have an honest and open dialogue addressing issues that distress you.

Therapy is all about educating yourself about how the human mind works. You can establish healthier habits and change your mindset by processing your emotions with the help of a therapist.

But the reality is that some patients aren't compatible with their therapists. Others, like the one in this story from the r/relationship_advice, felt compelled to find another mental health professional.

According to the original poster (OP) in today's story, he used a paid app to look for a therapist. An extra feature allows users to ask questions or vent to the therapist.

So the OP decided to send his therapist a personal message about the difficulties he's been going through. But what didn't sit well with him was the response he got from the therapist.

To him, it sounded verbose and generic. Since he's a ChatGPT user himself, he's used to the responses of the popular AI tool.

So when he saw the response of his therapist, he felt betrayed. It sounded like she used ChatGPT to his personal message.

After feeling betrayed, he's thinking about changing his therapist.

After receiving a generic response, the OP became upset at his therapist.

He sent a personal message that details his present life challenges.

When he saw the generic response, he tried to confirm with his therapist if she used ChatGPT. She denied it.

The OP was told by community members that he shouldn't rely on detection tools to determine if the response is indeed from ChatGPT.

He told users that he's thinking of looking for another therapist.

Most Redditors believe that, given the broken trust, he shouldn't rely on his current therapist anymore.

Redditors, however, warned him that detection tools aren't accurate too.

A Redditor suggests to the OP that scripting may be part of the process, clarifying the seemingly generic response as a result of established therapy techniques.

The OP thinks that it might be better to stop using the apps and go with in-person therapy.

A user suggests confronting the therapist and seeing her reaction first before making a decision. After all, she still helped him make progress.

A user believes the OP is potentially hindering his progress.

But since the trust is broken, it might be hard for the OP to take the therapist's words.

Even though therapy can be a life-changing, not every therapist is the right fit. The OP's story is am example.

He used a paid therapy app, hoping for support, but got a response that felt way too generic. Feeling disappointed and doubting the ability of the mental health professional, the OP now considers finding a new therapist.

And that's completely okay. While it's quite challenging, it's important to seek out a therapist who truly gets his issues.

Would you also seek out a new mental health professional if you were in the OP's shoes?

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