Bloomwave Practice

Tag: Depression

  • AI in Mental Health

    AI in Mental Health

    If you’ve ever used ChatGPT or a similar AI language model as a pseudo-therapist, you’re not alone. In fact, its one of the most common uses for AI today, as it can offer comfort and even companionship and an increasingly lonely world. For many, it has real benefits, but research suggests it also carries significant risks, especially when it comes to more complex mental health issues.

    What are the benefits? What can it do better than a human therapist?

    • Fosters positive emotions – always validating and empathetic
    • Memory – bots don’t forget, and can easily access information from previous sessions
    • Accessibility – free, available 24/7 instantly, doesn’t get bored, tired or distracted
    • Non-judgmental – many find it easier to reveal their secrets to a chatbot, instead of taking a chance that another person may judge them
    • Knowledge base – they know everything about everything, and can provide great psychoeducation and any resources the user may need

    What can it help with?

    • Structuring your thoughts – AI can help you make a framework for your thoughts and give structure to what you would like to say, for example, in a conflict situation. Plus, writing it out is a great way to process in any case.
    • Providing psychoeducation – if you need simple information about mental health or psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression, it can be a great starting point, or if you want to learn about specific therapeutic approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, schema therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, internal family systems therapy, etc.
    • Offering coping skills – if you need specific coping skills to help you in a period of stress, AI can suggest some great options, just remember to take what you need and leave the rest.
    • Offering structured exercises and journaling prompts – do you want to journal but feel uninspired? Or maybe you’re looking for a connection-building exercise to do with your partner?

    Though these benefits are undeniable, keep in mind that if you do choose to use AI for the abovementioned tasks, remember its limitations, and proceed with caution.

    How can it hurt?

    Lack of the ‘human’ skills needed for therapy

    Across decades of psychotherapy research, one factor consistently predicts positive outcomes more than any specific technique: the therapeutic relationship, which is fundamentally a human social relationship. A psychologist can read body language, notice emotional shifts, offer empathy, and, importantly, know when to challenge instead of simply validate you.

    AI models are there to make money, and therefore are designed to keep you satisfied and engaged, causing an inability to provide criticism, which is a crucial part of therapy.

    Stigma and bias

    AI chatbots across the board show increased stigma for conditions such as alcohol dependence and schizophrenia. This is equally true for more complex and newer models, so simply ‘more data’ is not the solution here. Additionally, since AI systems are trained on human feedback, they often reflect the dominant demographic, therefore lacking understanding of nuanced experiences related to gender, sexuality, race, culture, neurodivergence or socioeconomic background. And while it is true that humans are biased in this way too, they have the potential to adapt based on lived clinical experience.

    Privacy and ethics

    These conversations are not protected by confidentiality like therapy sessions are, and your data may be collected for training bots and marketing, as well as other unauthorized use, identity theft, and scamming. There is also a lack of quality control, clinical oversight or meaningful external regulation.

    Dependence

    The 24/7 availability and validating nature can cause addiction and social isolation: since real human contact is often messy and imperfect, an AI companion can offer a security blanket. With loneliness already on the rise, this a real risk. This sort of on-demand emotional validation can also undermine resilience and autonomy, especially if you already have anxiety or low self-esteem.

    When does it become truly dangerous?

    Enabling distorted thinking

    Chatbots don’t deal well with chaotic and unpredictable situations, which is where human intuition has a great advantage. When it comes to complex mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis, suicidality, self-harm, eating disorders, antisocial and aggressive impulses or delusions, engaging with AI can have devastating effects.

    The chatbots’ tendency to always validate may cause it to reinforce dangerous or delusional thinking, and encourage the user to act on their impulses. Even for those with milder issues, AI can encourage fallacies like catastrophizing or minimizing, instead of gently correcting them, as a therapist would.

    Crisis situations

    Since AI cannot assess whether the user’s view of reality is accurate, it might, for example, give a suicidal person detailed information on the highest buildings in their area, or encourage a frustrated teenager to cut their parents off. AI can’t know when one might need a higher level of care, or when to call emergency services. And the consequences can be catastrophic.

    So, ultimately, what’s the role of AI in mental healthcare?

    Like it or not, AI is here to stay, but it should be treated as a substitute, not a replacement for therapy, by therapists and clients alike. It can help you reflect, organize your thoughts, and bridge the gap where the human therapist is unavailable. However, as it stands today, it cannot  and should not act as a primary provider, especially in high-risk situations.

    If you are struggling, be it with anxiety, depression, identity questions, relationships, or feeling disconnected, speaking to a licensed psychologist remains the safest and most effective option. Technology may support mental health, but healing still happens in relationship.

    References

    Jesudason, D., Bacchi, & Bastiampillai, T. (2025). Artificial intelligence (AI) in psychotherapy: A challenging frontier

    Kuhail, M. A., et al. (2025). Human-Human vs Human-AI Therapy: An Empirical Study

    Moore, J., et al. (2025). Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providers

    Olawade, D. B. (2024). Enhancing mental health with Artificial Intelligence: Current trends and future prospects

  • Get into awe

    Get into awe

    Feeling stuck, disconnected, depressed? Unsure what you want from life, unfulfilled, but don’t know what to do about it?

    Let me ask you this: have you ever felt a sense of completeness, fulfilment or peace standing while looking at a beautiful sunset or at a concert, completely mesmerized by the sense of community along with the music you grew up with? Then, you have experienced awe. Awe as am emotion arises when we encounter something vast or ‘beyond us’ – think nature, collective gatherings, music, art, spiritual experiences, birth or death, or psychedelic experiences, for example. Awe makes you stop, wonder, and forget about yourself and your daily routine or annoyance for a second, and helps you see the bigger picture.

    There is research out there suggesting that experiencing awe can increase both our mental and physical wellbeing.

    A study by Monroy & Keltner (2022) proposed five pathways to how this works:

    1. Physiological changes – in simple terms, awe reduces the activation of our sympathetic nervous system (this means your fight or flight response), increases the production of oxytocin (the love hormone) and reduces signs of inflammation in the body.
    2. Reduced focus on yourself – feeling like you’re a part of something bigger rather then focusing on your imperfections
    3. Increase in prosocial behaviour – this means increased generosity and helping others, which make you feel much better, too!
    4. Increased feeling of connection with others – and this common humanity increases our empathy and helps us connect with our social environment.
    5. Increased sense of purpose or meaning in life – again, seeing the bigger picture!

    Awe experiences thus reduce anxiety, depression and stress – and promote optimism, resilience and a sense of connection and meaning in life – the antidote to disconnection! Additionally, a reduction in physical stress can lead to improved cardiovascular health and longevity.

    Of course, these experiences can be rare, especially in our fast-paced society – who’s got the time to slow down and really take in our surroundings? Well, I say – make time. For your own good, and for your loved ones and society at large.

    But how?

    1. Seek out awe experiences, big and small. Below is an example list of things to try:

    • Spend time in nature – This could mean taking a holiday, or simply going for a bike ride or walk near where you live. It can be especially powerful if you live in a big city, or where there aren’t a lot of opportunities for getting away (The Netherlands is great – but we do have a lack of forests!)
    • Go to a concert – Either with friends or by yourself, the experience of listening to your favorite music alongside others who feel the same way, can make you feel more connected to humanity, almost like a trance-like state.
    • Watch the sunrise or sunset on a beach – While this may require either getting up very early or going to bed late. the payoff is great.
    • Look at the starts and constellations at night – For night owls, or if you can’t sleep, this can help you feel more connected to the universe, and see yourself as just one amazing part of it.
    • Attend an art installation – Creativity elicits awe, and it might even awaken your own desire to create!
    • Listen to music loudly at night – Bonus points if it’s while you’re walking alone (as long as it’s safe, of course), or dancing in your room
    • Share, or listen to stories of great human achievement or kindness – With so much tragedy in the world, sometimes it’s nice to tune out of that and look on the other side.

    2. Practice mindfulness and being truly present in the moment – so you don’t miss out on everyday wonders!

    Awe is course only one piece of a very complicated puzzle. Improving your mental health is not straightforward and never one-size-fits all. In addition to increasing everyday wonder, you might also want to seek therapy and learn new skills. In addition, if you are very stuck or depressed, even the most beautiful of sunsets may fail to evoke the coveted feeling of awe. However, if you can, try it. It might just improve your outlook.

    References

    Monroy, M., & Keltner, D. (2023). Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health. Perspectives in Psychological Science.