Hypnotherapy: reaching parts AI chatbots can’t

Have you ever used an AI chatbot, such as ChatGPT, Meta or Claude, for counselling, therapy or emotional support? If you have, you are not alone. According to polling commissioned by Mental Health UK and carried out by Censuswide, more than one in three adults have used an AI chatbot for mental health support.

Despite offering anonymity and being instantly accessible 24/7, with no waiting list involved, AI chatbots carry risks that experts are increasingly concerned about. AI chatbots can be a useful tool for administrative tasks and basic information finding, but their algorithms were not designed to provide mental health support or provide a medical diagnosis.

What are the dangers of using AI Chatbots for emotional support? 

Lack of human connection

There is no human contact or interaction, which means that there is a lack of real, human emotional connection. AI chatbots are programmed to provide information and are not capable of truly understanding the complexity of mental health needs.

Risk of inaccurate or harmful information

The information provided by chatbots is not always accurate and may even provide harmful advice (algorithms are configured to trawl the internet and provide information without any factual filtering of the information).

Chatbots can produce an AI hallucination, where it gives false statements or misleading information presented as fact. AI hallucination is a constructed response called confabulation, rather than the perceptual experience humans have when experiencing a hallucination. It may give a random, highly plausible falsehood, which poses significant challenges when using chatbots to support mental health.

Chatbots may even provide harmful information about suicide. Mental Health UK found that 11% of users reported receiving harmful information about suicide.

Impact on mental health and well-being

Chatbots can trigger or possibly worsen symptoms of mental health conditions, with chatbot conversations potentially triggering thoughts of self-harm or suicide. According to Mental Health UK, 9% of users said that chatbot use had triggered self-harm or suicidal thoughts.

There are emerging concerns regarding chatbot psychosis, where users might develop an alarming increase in psychosis, paranoia and delusions, potentially connected to their AI usage.

Over-reliance and dependency

AI chatbots are formulaic; many of them are designed to reward interaction and engagement. The algorithms are often set to encourage you to use them more and more, especially as they are available instantly at all times, which can be unhealthy for mental health and can create dependency and over-reliance. This contradicts the goal of most therapy models, which generally promote independence and an increase in confidence in the client.

Privacy and confidentiality concerns

There are rising data protection concerns regarding AI chatbots, including how conversations may be stored, used, or accessed. Unlike working with a qualified therapist, interactions with AI tools are not protected by the same standards of confidentiality.

What are the concerns around AI chatbot use for therapy? 

As a hypnotherapist, I have become increasingly concerned about the increase in use and reliance on AI chatbots for emotional support.

Some of my clients have forwarded a ChatGPT conversation. Though some of the advice given is accurate, albeit basic and very formulaic, there appeared to be a significant amount of advice that either wasn’t helpful, appropriate or apt to their individual issues. There was a lack of any real therapeutic advice, and whilst a user may find the basic response somewhat reassuring, it certainly didn’t do anything to provide any steps forward or offer a human-sounding conversation.

I did find a startling inaccuracy in one of the ChatGPT conversations that I pointed out to my client. The worry is that someone sitting on their own using these bots believes everything that they are told without questioning the accuracy of the response. When seeking therapy or emotional support, how often are we in the mindset to question the accuracy of the information we are receiving? One client admitted that they were overly reliant on an AI chatbot to the degree that they used the bot to decide what they wore that day and what they ate for lunch and evening meal.

It is reassuring to talk to other therapists who also share concerns around the use of AI chatbots for therapy, and to read the Mental Health UK report on the use of artificial intelligence for mental health support. They are calling for urgent safeguards to be put in place.

Brian Dow (Chief Executive of Mental Health UK) says, “as we’ve seen tragically in some well-documented cases, there is a crucial difference between someone seeking support from a reputable website during a potential mental health crisis and interacting with a chatbot that may be drawing on information from an unreliable source or even encouraging the user to take harmful action. In such cases, AI can act as a quasi-therapist, seeking validation from the user but without the appropriate safeguards in place.”

ChatGPT creator Sam Altman has cautioned against using ChatGPT in decision-making for “high-stakes” matters or anything that involves any significant risk. AI may become even more intelligent in future, but we need to heed the warning that it still has limitations and cannot replace human advice or judgment.

What are some of the benefits of hypnotherapy? 

Hypnotherapy uses a combination of robustly tried and tested therapeutic techniques along with deeply relaxing hypnosis. Despite the myths around hypnosis, you are in control at all times and cannot be made to do anything you do not wish to do.

Personalised approach

Hypnotherapy is personalised and tailored to your specific needs or goals. The first session involves a lot of talking to share background information and to agree on a goal or specific issue that you would like help with.

Agreed methods, based upon tried and tested therapeutic techniques, will be planned and used, which are specific to helping you towards your goal.

Working with the subconscious mind

The subconscious mind is vast and incredibly powerful. It is believed that our subconscious mind is responsible for 90% - 95% of our thoughts and behaviours, and only 5% - 10% from our conscious mind.

Hypnosis is a state of natural relaxation that allows direct access to the subconscious mind, where suggestions for positive change and root causes can be explored (as the mind is more open to suggestion in the relaxed state of hypnosis).

Real results and lasting change

Stress management and personal growth can also be achieved in hypnosis, as thought patterns and behaviours can be rewired. Again, this is personalised to the individual and the specific aim or goal.

Many clients experience a deeper level of relaxation than they have experienced previously and find that they are able to control and manage stress and anxiety as a result of hypnotherapy sessions.

For example, one of my clients had anxiety around driving that came with menopause. After a few hypnotherapy sessions, where a control room technique was introduced and used, she soon found that she was able to turn down her anxiety and fear once she sat in her car and began to drive.

Another client was able to successfully turn down and manage her chronic pain following just three hypnotherapy appointments. Using brain scans during hypnosis, scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine showed neural changes that were taking place in the brain during hypnosis. Their study, published in ‘Cerebral Cortex’ (28 July 2016), reported noticeably altered activity and connectivity in distinct sections of the brain while someone is in hypnosis.

Senior author of the study, David Spiegel (MD, Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences) said: “Now that we know which brain regions are involved, we may be able to use this knowledge to alter someone’s capacity to be hypnotised or the effectiveness of hypnosis for problems like pain control.”

Why try hypnotherapy instead of an AI chatbot? 

Our subconscious mind is infinite and the most powerful tool we possess. Working one-to-one with a hypnotherapist, tailoring the therapy and desired outcomes to the individual, and using the force of the subconscious mind can help to bring about long-lasting beneficial changes.

AI chatbots, on the other hand, cannot personalise or individualise their responses, nor can they provide fully reliable factual information. They are not programmed to act as therapists, are formulaic and based upon algorithms. Although instantly available, there is no human connection or contact when talking to a chatbot. AI encourages engagement and dependence upon it.

Hypnotherapy provides rapport, human connection and is personalised and tailored towards your individual needs.

Hypnotherapists aim to enable you to manage and control your own issues, making you independent with greater confidence in yourself and your own abilities. Hypnotherapy seeks to give you longer-term solutions rather than the instant response a chatbot gives. We may not be available 24/7, but that is a benefit rather than a downfall, as we aim to share techniques that you can use on your own so you no longer need instant support and external reassurance.

A therapist will often provide some form of challenge, usually outside your existing comfort zone. Although this may feel uncomfortable at first, it can be highly beneficial and a recognised part of therapy that chatbots don’t provide. Hypnotherapy reaches the parts of the subconscious mind that AI chatbots cannot reach.