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Men are opening up about mental health to AI instead of humans

Technology
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  • a terrible therapist at least has an ethics board

    a terrible therapist at least has evidence-based interventions on their side

    a terrible therapist at lest has the fact that ~80% of positive outcomes have nothing to do with the interventions or anything the therapist does besides show up and be cool (a statistic I remember quite well from grad school)

    AI has none of these things

    therapy isn't fucking magic. it's a relationship. you can't have a relationship with an LLM. there's no such thing as AI therapy, you're just training it to tell you about CBT worksheets while you bitch about your problems like you're in a nail salon

    a terrible therapist can lock you in a room, some people don't want that risk

  • A profound relational revolution is underway, not orchestrated by tech developers but driven by users themselves. Many of the 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT are seeking more than just assistance with emails or information on food safety; they are looking for emotional support.

    “Therapy and companionship” have emerged as two of the most frequent applications for generative AI globally, according to the Harvard Business Review. This trend marks a significant, unplanned pivot in how people interact with technology.

    Much easier if you just bury your feelings deep deep down. No repercussions whatsoever. The occasional psychic breakdowns but that’s normal.

  • I see a lot of people in this thread reacting with open hostility and derailment every time men's issues are mentioned. Have you tried not being a part of the problem?

    There are people like that for anything related to AI.

    Combine that with men stuff and this going to be crack for all of those people

  • I think we may be (re)-discovering the appeal of monotheistic religions, and why they hew patriarchal.

    On average, men desperately need more mental health resources. But, on average, they are not comfortable building that with other men, and it often isn't appropriate or effective to lean on their female significant other (if a straight man).

    So - enter the primary description of 'God'. Can listen any time but will always forgive, is super masculine but won't emasculate you, and has never told another soul what you are thinking.

    AI is always available and is unlikely to emasculate anyone, but that third item... Well, we'll see where this goes.

    Omg self host it omg

  • As long as the AI doesn't suggests violence.

    What if it suggests to engender conditions which may statistically be more likely to involve unintended unwanted violence? But also will make a lot of money

  • A profound relational revolution is underway, not orchestrated by tech developers but driven by users themselves. Many of the 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT are seeking more than just assistance with emails or information on food safety; they are looking for emotional support.

    “Therapy and companionship” have emerged as two of the most frequent applications for generative AI globally, according to the Harvard Business Review. This trend marks a significant, unplanned pivot in how people interact with technology.

    Sounds like the smart and sensible thing to do tbh, opening up to people in this day and age is just suicide

  • are people using their brains or what?

    What? No. Seriously, are you new here? And by here I mean Earth.

    I see idiots all around me. Everybody only interested in advancing themselves. But if we advanced the group, it would be better for EVERYBODY.

    But we as a species are too stupid to build a society that benefits everybody.

    So no. No brain use here.

  • I can kinda understand the appeal. An AI isn't gonna judge you, an AI isn't gonna leave a mean comment or tell you to get over it and man up. It's giving an unnerving amount of personal information to corporations, but I can sympathise with the thoughts these men are having.

    An AI isn’t gonna judge you,

    Guess what is happening with that chat history.

  • A profound relational revolution is underway, not orchestrated by tech developers but driven by users themselves. Many of the 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT are seeking more than just assistance with emails or information on food safety; they are looking for emotional support.

    “Therapy and companionship” have emerged as two of the most frequent applications for generative AI globally, according to the Harvard Business Review. This trend marks a significant, unplanned pivot in how people interact with technology.

    Unironically the "Men will do X besides going to therapy" meme

  • Unironically the "Men will do X besides going to therapy" meme

    Even therapists are suffering these days. It’s just more challenging than it’s ever been to gaslight clients into believing their concerns about the world aren’t objectively true and instead the symptom of an internal struggle.

  • I can kinda understand the appeal. An AI isn't gonna judge you, an AI isn't gonna leave a mean comment or tell you to get over it and man up. It's giving an unnerving amount of personal information to corporations, but I can sympathise with the thoughts these men are having.

    It might even, gasp, offer solutions.

  • Become a rich jacked sociopath.

    That’s most manly thing you can do apparently.

    Sorry, I will pursue happiness instead

  • I never said it was the US, do rules and regulations governing doctors behavior not exist in your country?

    IDK, really. As I said, I left the country where this psychiatrist lives.

  • I see a lot of people in this thread reacting with open hostility and derailment every time men's issues are mentioned. Have you tried not being a part of the problem?

    Allowing men’s issues to even be addressed risks giving legitimacy to the fact that these issues even exist. And if they exist, men can no longer be that evil monolith that exists only to be torn down and used as the cause for whatever is wrong with the world.

    After all, the zero-sum game must be properly reinforced with an appropriate evil that cannot be allowed to have any weaknesses or redeeming attributes.

  • A profound relational revolution is underway, not orchestrated by tech developers but driven by users themselves. Many of the 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT are seeking more than just assistance with emails or information on food safety; they are looking for emotional support.

    “Therapy and companionship” have emerged as two of the most frequent applications for generative AI globally, according to the Harvard Business Review. This trend marks a significant, unplanned pivot in how people interact with technology.

    So somewhere they feel safe to do so. Says something pretty fucked up about our culture that men don't feel safe to open up anywhere. And no, it's not their own fault.

  • therapy does not have to be expensive.

    around 70% of my caseload is Medicaid and they don't pay a dime. the remainder is mostly DOC (prison), they only pay if we charge No Show fee. so they pay to not go to therapy. There's 1-2 people who are funded by the county. they pay a $7 copay per session

    Therapy isn't expensive, luigi is.

    As far as efficacy, we don't even have data suggesting AI therapy is effective. we have ample data, however, showing that the most important part of therapy is not what you do but the relationship itself. not individual efforts. so your theory about what therapy does for us is wrong. there's no relationship with an LLM. we have no reason to believe it would be any better than a paper journal and a CBT worksheet.

    therapy does not have to be expensive.

    But it is though.

    Your medicaid patients?

    Poor. By definition.

    Sure they might not pay a copay, but they pay for it in gas money to get to that visit, their barely running car now breaking down from visiting you, time off work they can't really afford, time filling out reams and reams of fucking paperwork to be able to qualify for anything, likely when they're already in a mentally comprimised condition to some extent... its all very stressful.

    Which is very bad for mental health.

    we have no reason to believe it would be any better than a paper journal and a CBT worksheet.

    And the part you don't want to admit (at least here) is that ... that's actually quite helpful in and of itself for a lot of people.

    Have a few sessions with a live, in person therapist, to teach you CBT, give you the paperwork, walk you through it.

    Not all, but many people can take it by themselves from there, and not need to keep wasting time and energy on continually requalifying for medicaid, getting to and from psych appointments, dealing with scheduling delays and unavailability, etc.

    Yep, a lot of people are also helped by basically just having someone to be able to talk to and feel heard.

    But... that's often doable by just making either a friend or even casual acquaintance with someone who is capable of, and has the capacity for reflexive empathy.

    Much less stress and paperwork involved there.

    And also yes, some people with much more serious issues need much more serious help.

    Unfortunately, the entire medical system in the US is utterly broken, and the only real solution is having a system that ... isn't broken, so that comprehensive screening and diagnosis is easily available without huge delays and costs... and more broadly, those people need to have the first two levels of maslow's hierarchy of needs taken care of.

    But currently our society basically just takes those people and throws them into the streets, evicts them, forecloses on them, incarcerates them.

    There simply is no systemic way to help those people without major systemic changes... and those ain't happening, they're moving in the opposite direction.

    ...

    The problem with LLMs as therapy is that they are wildly overconfident, agreeable to the point of encouraging delusions and dangerous behavior, they hallucinate facts that aren't real... and they are not actually capable of legitimate critical thinking or reasoning.

    They also will not introduce you to concepts you have never heard of before which you do not know are or could be very useful, unless you directly ask them to do that, and even then... they obviously are not experts themselves and may suggest dubious ideas.

    But also, at the same time... people often do form what they will describe as meaningful relationships with an LLM. So... its not that 'it doesn't happen', its that its a psuedorelationship, a fascimile of a relationship, lacks in person interaction, a real human modulating their intonation, having micro expressions, body language, etc etc.

  • Sounds like the smart and sensible thing to do tbh, opening up to people in this day and age is just suicide

    This is the absolute worst time to hand over all of your issues/fears over to any data collection companies. We're spiralling into fascism and data collection is going to be their best tool to attempt to control us.

  • I think we may be (re)-discovering the appeal of monotheistic religions, and why they hew patriarchal.

    On average, men desperately need more mental health resources. But, on average, they are not comfortable building that with other men, and it often isn't appropriate or effective to lean on their female significant other (if a straight man).

    So - enter the primary description of 'God'. Can listen any time but will always forgive, is super masculine but won't emasculate you, and has never told another soul what you are thinking.

    AI is always available and is unlikely to emasculate anyone, but that third item... Well, we'll see where this goes.

    You've basically just described "confession". You go into a little box designed to make it as difficult as possible for the priest to identify you, you talk about all the ways you feel like you're a bad person, and the priest talks to you for a while about it, then gives you some actionable items to make amends and once you've done them God officially forgives you. The whole concept of confession is designed to allow people to let go of their regrets and live in the now. It's actually quite clever as a bit of societal design. If modern priests had psychotherapy degrees then everyone in the world would have access to free therapy - unfortunately they wouldn't be very useful for LGBT+ people.

  • 🤔

    That’s interesting… had never seen it put that way before…

    It’s almost like telling men that it’s okay to show your feelings is bullshit lol

    Do you think this therapist is trying to market therapy and increase his business? I also think the same 🤨

    /j

  • I think we may be (re)-discovering the appeal of monotheistic religions, and why they hew patriarchal.

    On average, men desperately need more mental health resources. But, on average, they are not comfortable building that with other men, and it often isn't appropriate or effective to lean on their female significant other (if a straight man).

    So - enter the primary description of 'God'. Can listen any time but will always forgive, is super masculine but won't emasculate you, and has never told another soul what you are thinking.

    AI is always available and is unlikely to emasculate anyone, but that third item... Well, we'll see where this goes.

    Lol see where it goes? If you think these AI companies, that are very publicly bleeding money, aren't selling your data out for pennies on the dollar, you're just keeping your head in the sand.