Funny, I was just reading comments in another thread about people with mental health problems proclaiming how terrific it is. Especially concerning is how they had found value in the recommendations LLMs make and "trying those out." One of the commenters described themselves as "neuro diverse" and was acting upon "advice" from generated LLM responses.

And for something like depression, this is deeply bad advice. I feel somewhat qualified to weigh in on it as somebody who has struggled severely with depression and managed to get through it with the support of a very capable therapist. There's a tremendous amount of depth and context to somebody's mental condition that involves more deliberate probing to understand than stringing together words until it forms sentences that mimic human interactions.

Let's not forget that an LLM will not be able to raise alarm bells, read medical records, write prescriptions or work with other medical professionals. Another thing people often forget is that LLMs have maximum token lengths and cannot, by definition, keep a detailed "memory" of everything that's been discussed.

It's is effectively self-treatment with more steps.

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.

Therapy is just littered with bad therapists, that do more harm than good and give the practice a bad name.

For every 1 good therapist, there are probably 10+ bad ones.

It can be a fucking ordeal to navigate, financially and emotionally, to try and find the one good one.

My worst experience was a therapist which charged me 300 dollars a session to do nothing but talk about how amazing they were, and that I need to just suck it up and be amazing like they are, afterall, it was so easy for them.

Getting rejection because of place of birth is worth getting that doctors license revoked, find out which body governs doctors in your location and file a complaint

I dealt with the same thing in all my relationships. Nothing got my gfs hotter than when I acted like a complete asshole towards other people. They got off the duality of me being shit to people and the being this 'sweet man' to them. And they'd get super jealous and bitter if I was kind towards anyone else other than them. It was Toxic AF. It made me hate myself and made me depressed. To know that i had to be a shithead to get my girlfriends to like me.

I'm so much happier single. I'd rather not get laid then have to be a POS asshole like they wanted me to be. Soooo many people get off on anti-social behaviors. I'm also so glad I never got married or had children with these ladies who have such a horrible Zero Sum way of thinking about the world.

They wanted me to be vulnerable, but only in the sense that I was some heroic figure overcoming the odds. If i said I was sad when my dog died or my dad died, then I was a giant pussy to them.

When shitty people only validate your shitty emotions... well that's why so many women only date shitty men. Because they are turned off sexually by men who are more complex or behave outside of their per-determiend 'what a man should be' image. Especially when you reject them for sex... holy shit. Way to see what a lady really thinks of a men when a man turns her down for sex.

In my many years single now, I do a lot of volunteer work. Giving back here and there w/ kids and adults and community building. I've never met or a dated lady who thought it was cool. They all think it's weird to be kind to strangers and/or I'm secretly homosexual if I do so. If it comes up they always get 'suspicious'.

Now flip that around and anytime you see or a hear a woman saying her man isn't emotionally available, just tell her he isn't your therapist.

... Do you see how this kind of framing is wildly unproductive, when either side engages in it?

Can you?

I'm saying exactly what I said, he sucked in therapy because of his inability to acknowledge his shitty attitude and instead he's blaming that on women.

Where in there did I said because he's a man? He's struggling with classic men issues as listed above, that's not blaming him for being a man learn to read.

I can't believe I'm going to have to explain this, but it's a meme reference: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/instead-of-going-to-therapy

You're still confusing the two sentences. Haah, why do I even bother?

Therapy is just littered with bad therapists, that do more harm than good and give the practice a bad name.

This has long been my experience. Although I believe that great therapists are out there, I have yet to encounter someone who didn't blame me for the problems and cause me to feel rejected. The last person I went to looked over the intake testing and told me that nobody would want me as a client. No joke. I convinced him to let me stay but nothing happened and I burned out after 3 months or so and stopped going.

Part of me is ok with this in that any avenue to get mental health resources can be better than nothing. What worries me is that people will use ChatGPT for this sort of thing and these models will not be good help.

Part of me is ok with this in that any avenue to get mental health resources can be better than nothing. What worries me is that people will use ChatGPT for this sort of thing and these models will not be good help.

Like... yeah?

Tried to open to a girlfriend about a sensitive topic - she got the ick.

Tried to make an appointment with a psychiatrist - got a very hateful rejection because of my place of birth.

Damn, even when I try to uplift a friend, I use phrases like 'you got this before, you'll get it now'.

I don't know how to be a man, mentally

The best therapist in the world can still end your career by causing your clearance to be revoked or rendering you unqualified for your unit’s mission.

(Suicide is a big problem in the military, I lost a buddy to it.)

The cheapest therapist in the world may still not be covered by your insurance. (And nothing you write in reply will alter that.)

They should work to make AI therapy better while keeping it totally anonymous. If it were really good it would be the number one use for running a local and disconnected and air gapped LLM: perfectly private therapy with no “we just use telemetry to improve our product” bullshit.

Then maybe a lot more men would seek help/talk about their thoughts and feelings.

Probably because you can't read

Honestly of they could program a halfway decent AI therapist then art least it could take some of the load off our already insufficient mental health professionals by dealing with the lighter-weight cases, leaving the psychotherapists free to deal with the especially sick people.

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.

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.

i pivot to wealth inequality because the wealthy have all the resources and the rest of us don't have enough.

that includes access to medical care and mental care. easiest way to get healthcare and therapy is to be rich so you can pay out of pocket and skip the limits/lines imposed by insurance companies.

a lot of people's mental and health problems would also simple be alleviated by being able to have better food and a better work-life balance, both which are privileges of the wealthy that the less economically fortunate do not have access to.

these are straight facts, but i'm sure you'll go into denial mode about how the poor and mentally unwell should just become their own therapists or something.

The real problem becomes when bad or non scientific advice gets regurgitated to people over and over.