IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v11y2024i1d10.1057_s41599-023-02567-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The usefulness of ChatGPT for psychotherapists and patients

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo Raile

    (Sigmund-Freud Private University)

Abstract

ChatGPT is a chatbot based on a large language model. Its application possibilities are extensive, and it is freely accessible to all people, including psychotherapists and individuals with mental illnesses. Some blog posts about the possible use of ChatGPT as a psychotherapist or as a supplement to psychotherapy already exist. Based on three detailed chats, the author analyzed the chatbot’s responses to psychotherapists seeking assistance, to patients looking for support between psychotherapy sessions, during their psychotherapists’ vacations, and to people suffering from mental illnesses who are not yet in psychotherapy. The results suggest that ChatGPT offers an interesting complement to psychotherapy and an easily accessible, good (and currently free) place to go for people with mental-health problems who have not yet sought professional help and have no psychotherapeutic experience. The information is, however, one-sided, and in any future regulation of AI it must also be made clear that the proposals are not only insufficient as a psychotherapy substitute, but also have a bias that favors certain methods while not even mentioning other approaches that may be more helpful for some people.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Raile, 2024. "The usefulness of ChatGPT for psychotherapists and patients," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02567-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02567-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-02567-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-02567-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Valeria Cioffi & Lucia Luciana Mosca & Enrico Moretto & Ottavio Ragozzino & Roberta Stanzione & Mario Bottone & Nelson Mauro Maldonato & Benedetta Muzii & Raffaele Sperandeo, 2022. "Computational Methods in Psychotherapy: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02567-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.