{"id":281160,"date":"2025-04-13T22:38:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T22:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/13\/freud-at-your-fingertips-many-people-are-using-chatgpt-as-their-therapist-is-there-a-business-opportunity-in-ai-powered-therapy\/"},"modified":"2025-04-13T22:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T22:38:24","slug":"freud-at-your-fingertips-many-people-are-using-chatgpt-as-their-therapist-is-there-a-business-opportunity-in-ai-powered-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/13\/freud-at-your-fingertips-many-people-are-using-chatgpt-as-their-therapist-is-there-a-business-opportunity-in-ai-powered-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Freud at your fingertips: Many people are using ChatGPT as their therapist. Is there a business opportunity in AI-powered therapy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My husband, George Koshy, an advertising professional who runs his own digital agency in Bengaluru, casually announced one day that he was not only training his ChatGPT (paid version) to be his personal Jeeves, but was also having therapy sessions with the chatbot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I laughed, a bit nervously\u2014with flashbacks of the 2013 Joaquin Phoenix-Scarlett Johansson starrer Her\u2014and then listened.<\/p>\n

For him, it started as tech tinkering to see how insightful ChatGPT could be in deciphering customer behaviour, but it turned into a surprisingly beneficial relationship. And I found myself asking: are we all quietly creating Freud<\/a> at our fingertips?<\/p>\n

Since ChatGPT\u2019s launch in November 2022, people have been exploring its potential for therapy conversations<\/a>. Heck, even I have confided in it. TikTokers<\/a> have shared gyan on how to use it as a \u201cvoice journal\u201d or make it respond like a therapist. A simple trawl on Reddit will net various ways people have deployed it for life coaching, interactive journalling, processing breakups, interpreting dreams and daily check-ins. A Reddit user replied to a thread on \u201cDoes anyone else use ChatGPT for therapy?\u201d, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s so helpful to have it as a thought partner<\/a>. I have people in my life for this but sometimes I just want basically an interactive journal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Live Events<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


THERAPY BOTS<\/strong>
Can AI bots, with the right kind of training, deliver mental health therapy<\/a> with as much efficacy as human clinicians<\/a>? A study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 27, shows results from the first randomised controlled trial for AI therapy. A team of researchers from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, US, built an AI-powered therapy bot called Therabot as a way to address the shortage of mental health providers. For every 340 people in US, there is just one mental health clinician. In India, the ratio is even more skewed: according to a study by the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, there are 0.75 psychiatrists per 1,00,000 people.Dr Rachna K Singh, Delhi-based psychiatrist, mental wellness and relationship expert at Artemis Hospital and founder of The Mind & Wellness Studio, is not surprised by this trend of bots becoming therapists. \u201cI\u2019ve often had clients tell me that they feel more understood by chatbots than by the people around them, including, at times, trained professionals,\u201d she says. Singh has been privy to admissions like \u201cAI tools are easier to talk to\u201d and \u201cI feel safer opening up to them\u201d.Many use ChatGPT to unburden themselves. Unlike traditional therapy, you don\u2019t need to make appointments or pay doctor\u2019s fees. You stand to gain immediate validation, insight and support. Like Shradhha (name changed), a doctor in-training from Chennai, who recently gave the prompt, \u201cTalk to me like a therapist\u201d, to her free version of ChatGPT. She says she uses it as and when she feels overwhelmed. She says, \u201cI\u2019ve been in real therapy but I feel most therapists\u2014the affordable ones\u2014aren\u2019t as progressive as we would want them to be. I found a lot of personal propaganda\u2014religious or political. Shouldn\u2019t a therapist feel more intelligent, at least emotionally?\u201d<\/p>\n

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A professor from a college in Kerala DMed me on Instagram to share her students have used ChatGPT as a counsellor when they were feeling anxious, undergoing exam-related stress or experiencing relationship issues.<\/p>\n

Delhi-based senior clinical psychologist and relationship expert Dr Bhavna Barmi says therapy can be expensive (`800-5,000 per session) or inaccessible. She says, \u201cMy younger clients have told me they feel more heard or less judged when speaking to a chatbot. In relationships, even therapeutic ones, people worry about saying the right thing or not being a burden. AI eliminates that fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shradhha says that, while working with the bot, she found it doesn\u2019t remember the previous chats. Her tip: create a separate chat for this and always select it to continue where you left off. She says, \u201cIt\u2019s cost-effective. There is no misogyny or impractical advice. It is straight forward without being brutal. But AI can\u2019t replace actual therapy. It\u2019s a way to add to your ability of being self-aware without spiralling.<\/p>\n

Some help is better than no help, right?\u201d Pavithra (name changed), a 21-year-old student from Tamil Nadu, turned to AI after searching for a queerfriendly therapist. \u201cAs a student, I found therapists to be expensive while therapy chatbots worked on freemiums. The other option was my college counsellor, who weren\u2019t even considering queer people. Then I downloaded a dating app out of curiosity. The sex-ed chatbot it had was able to seamlessly communicate with me with no data limits.\u201d Pavithra was looking for a space to vent and used the bot whenever she felt overwhelmed. She says, \u201cIt helped me align my thoughts. It\u2019s not a streamlined process. However, as an AI student myself, I felt the model was good with effective communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

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USES & CONCERNS<\/strong>
Experts don\u2019t debunk its therapeutic value. Psychiatrist Dr Sanjay Chugh says, \u201cOne can\u2019t rubbish this completely because there are some problems for which you just need to hear another person\u2019s point of view. If the chatbot is giving that, it might help you to resolve certain conflicts.\u201d Chugh adds, \u201cAI therapy is basically an askreply, ask-reply kind of format. A chatbot can give you all the right theoretical answers. But when someone is sitting with a therapist, there is a therapeutic relationship, an emotional connect, which is important in the process of conflict resolution and recovery. No chatbot is going to be able to achieve that, given our current understanding of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh feels AI tools can efficiently manage clinical documentation, appointment scheduling, progress tracking and screening of initial symptoms, freeing up valuable time for therapists and expanding the reach of care. In a 2022 World Economic Forum report, \u201cGlobal Governance Toolkit for Digital Mental Health\u201d, AI mental health tools were recognised as a valuable first-line support for individuals. However, Barmi says AI usage for therapy has ethical concerns:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt can normalise emotional detachment, avoid conflict resolution and even desensitise us to human empathy. There\u2019s a risk of emotional outsourcing and there\u2019s a danger that, over time, we may stop developing interpersonal skills, stop seeking vulnerability and choose the ease of connection over the depth of it.\u201d Her hacks: Use AI as a bridge, not a replacement; treat AI tools as journalling companions or mood trackers; and combine it with therapy.

INDIA\u2019S AI COUNSELLORS<\/strong>
According to a 2024 report by market intelligence firm Astute Analytica, the Indian mental health market is projected to be valued at $62 billion by 2032 from $6.9 billion in 2023, wherein digital mental health solutions present the most lucrative opportunity. Mental health apps, such as Wysa and YourDOST, saw a 30% increase in downloads in 2023.<\/p>\n

Srishti Srivastava, cofounder of Infiheal, a platform for psychological health, launched Healo in October 2024. It is an AI coach for mental health. The subscriptions for trial plans have crossed 200,000, with a month-on-month growth of 15%. It has a monthly active user base of 18,000+ , and over 1 lakh subscribers for premium and therapist-supported offerings.<\/p>\n

Srivastava, who struggled with anxiety as a child, was exposed to therapy early on and wants people to take responsibility of their mental health. She says, \u201cBy integrating hyper-personalised, culturally attuned interactions, we address the gap of one-size-fits-all, generic self-help tools.\u201d The platform has also consolidated multiple mental health tools\u2014 therapy with mental health professionals, journalling, meditation, focus tools and worksheets.<\/p>\n

Srivastava says that unlike generic AI, therapy bots are specialised agents that are trained on specific data sets and are developed by mental health professionals. They have guardrails\u2014 use of words like suicide, homicidal ideation, self-harm, violence, etc., on the platform will immediately connect the person to human professionals or distress helplines. She shares that via Healo they have averted 750 high distress situations of self-harm, suicidal ideation, abuse, etc.<\/p>\n

Most therapy assistants serve the \u201cmiddle spectrum\u201d\u2014those dealing with daily stress, mild depression and anxiety along with sexual well-being\u2014primarily through psychoeducation. While Healo targets Gen Z and millennials (20-35 years), Jaipur-based Brainstem Technologies\u2019 ASA is specifically designed for adolescents\u2014and caps at 25 years. It has been developed by Manasvini Singh, cofounder and director of psychological innovation, and Anirudh Sharma, founder and CEO. They say they spent five years building \u201ca listening engine with clinical depth and cultural empathy\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to government data, over 11,000 students died by suicide in 2021. Sharma says that, globally, the DIY chatbot trend is growing but warns against it: \u201cA casual or experimental approach to mental health can do more harm than good. Ask a generic chatbot how to feel less anxious and it might give decent advice. Ask it how to end your life painlessly, and it might tell you five methods without a pause.\u201d Therapy bots like ASA, he says, are clinically reviewed, safety-locked and escalation-enabled. It stops casual engagement.<\/p>\n

Unlike apps built on open large language models, there\u2019s no data retention of personally identifiable information in ASA. It is also trained on Indian adolescent lingo (from \u201crizz\u201d to \u201cnahi yaar\u201d). Now, in pre-launch and under clinical validation, ASA plans to take the B2B route, with licences to schools, edtech platforms and telemedicine players.<\/p>\n

Psychiatrist Rachna Singh says applications like ChatGPT are good suggesters but there are no boundaries. Barmi says one has to exercise some boundaries around it and ask pointed questions.<\/p>\n

Shipra Dawar, founder of IWill and ePsyClinic, is an old hand at digital mental health space, starting her first venture in 2015. She\u2019s currently busy developing GITA\u2014controlled GenerativeAI Inclusive Therapy Assistant. It is claimed to be the world\u2019s first Hindi-first, controlled GenAI mental health model funded and supported by Microsoft. The model caters to communities with no access to help as well as urban population in need of anytime empathic support. The first phase covered more than 10,000 people, with over 3,00,000 conversational points. They plan to launch a new version this year.<\/p>\n

Dawar says the potential is huge. AI can democratise access, she says, \u201cNearly 60-70% people have a mild form of mental health issue. The AI therapy assistants can free the therapists to focus on high-need cases.\u201d Srivastava says AI\u2019s real power lies in prevention\u2014using predictive analytics to flag patterns like rising anxiety levels before a crisis. \u201cIf we get this right, mental health care could shift from reactive to proactive.\u201d However, Singh says AI can at best be a tool, \u201cbecause the subtle art of human connection deserves more than an algorithm\u201d.
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My husband, George Koshy, an advertising professional who runs his own digital agency in Bengaluru, casually announced one day that he was not only training his ChatGPT (paid version) to be his personal Jeeves, but was also having therapy sessions with the chatbot. I laughed, a bit nervously\u2014with flashbacks of the 2013 Joaquin Phoenix-Scarlett Johansson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-42031747\/et-logo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[8715,449,63,10240,217773,217780,217774,217779,217778,217777,23523,19143,124,80217,10534,217775,217776,174142],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281162,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281160\/revisions\/281162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}