Chatbot Safety: When Machines Supplant Therapists, What Can go Wrong?
This may be the year when more people turn to chatbots than to human therapists for psychological support and guidance.
Essays & Interviews
Latest in Essays & Interviews
Can ChatGPT Be Your Therapist? This Therapist Found Out for Herself
Can ChatGPT offer a viable alternative to traditional therapy? In this first-person essay, a licensed therapist explores that question.
What Was I Made For? Identity, Meaning, and the Emotional Cost of AI
Machines can now write, analyze, diagnose, and simulate emotional presence, triggering not just a technological disruption but one that strikes at who we think we are.
AI Can’t Replace a Therapist, But Millions Use It Like One. Replika’s Founder Answers the Critics
Eugenia Kuyda built an AI companion app that act like a friend, partner or therapist. She insists that industry standards, not lawmakers, should guide how AI therapy apps evolve.
Brown University Shooting Again Reveals Why Trauma Care Must Begin Before People Seek It
A former Brown student and longtime mental health journalist says that how institutions respond after traumatic events can shape mental health outcomes for years to come.
In Our Future, We Are Free: The Movement to Dismantle Youth Prisons in America
Over the past 20 years, one state after another has shuttered its youth prisons and stopped prosecuting kids as adults, slashing the number of children locked in cages by a stunning 75%. This new book tells the story of how a coalition of parents, activists, and prison officials brought a destructive institution to its knees.
The ICE Effect: Immigrants, Already Traumatized, Face Neglect in New York Jail
MindSite News spoke to a civil rights attorney about the harsh conditions for immigrants held at a New York jail.
I Shared 266 Pages of My Life with ChatGPT. Here’s What It Got Wrong.
Therapy, the author notes, "isn’t about telling you what you want to hear; it’s about helping you face what you need to hear." Using ChatGPT for therapy, however, is "both engaging and manipulative."
‘They Just Took You Away’
My daughter’s nightmares offer a window into how children are processing Trump’s immigration raids. Such expressions of fear are normal, mental health professionals say.
Hidden ‘Tax Bombs,’ High Anxiety: Protecting Students’ Mental Health During the Student Loan Shake-Up
College financial expert Jennifer Finetti on how youth can best take care of themselves in the wake of Trump administration changes.
California Must Learn from History. Forced Mental Health Care Harms More than Heals
Keris Myrick, who has lived with schizophrenia, contends that California's mental health system fails people by prioritizing forced treatment over humane care.
This ER Doc Has Been Surveying Public Attitudes on Authoritarianism. The Numbers Are Chilling
Research suggests a two-way dynamic: In the era of Donald Trump, anxiety, fear and uncertainty are leading to acceptance of authoritarianism and violence. This, in turn, provokes more anxiety and fear – and for some people, withdrawal.
What California Still Doesn’t Understand About Young Men’s Mental Health
In California, youth and young adults make up 21% of the population but account for 57% of all emergency room visits due to self-harm. When we offer real space to feel, boys start to breathe when they realize emotions are not liabilities but signals.
Fighting in War Still Didn’t Prepare Me for the Prison Mental Health Crisis
Nine years ago, I began serving as a volunteer peer counselor at the prison I'd transferred out of, providing support to people in the mental health unit. I’ve learned that trauma affects us all, and I’ve felt a growing sense of purpose.
The Weight of the World on Young Shoulders
Teens and young adults are coming of age amid a culture of fear, intensified by the rhetoric and policies of President Trump. Columnist Lisa Doggett and her 17-year-old daughter, Clara Williams, a rising high school senior, share their perspectives on what this means for Gen Z. Clara interviewed three other high school students in Austin.
Emiliano, Two Languages and a System That Doesn’t Understand Him
Emiliano, a boy diagnosed with ADHD, faces a system that doesn't know how to see him. While he deals with labels and barriers, his mother — a Guatemalan journalist and refugee in the United States — fights to pave the way for him, convinced that her son is not a problem to be fixed, but a beautiful mind that the world has not yet learned to understand.
Coming Medicaid Cuts Spell Disaster for People Needing Addiction Services, Especially Coming Out of Jail
Medicaid cuts being advanced by the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans could gut addiction services.
Happier Anniversary: What I Learned about Grief from the Suicides of My Parents
A doctor who lost both parents to suicide on how he has learned to cope with the anniversaries of their deaths.
‘A Public Health Emergency’: The Crusade to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness for Office
Dr. Bandy X. Lee says Trump has deteriorated, and the level of danger has vastly increased — especially because his symptoms have spread.
Therabot Study Flawed and Biased
A psychologist writes to say that our report on a randomized clinical trial for Therabot, an AI therapy chatbot, overlooked methodological weaknesses and researcher bias.
Surviving Solitary: People Who Endured Prolonged Isolation Push for Mental Health Care
Part 2 of this series looks at the forms of mental health care and support that can help people who have been subjected to solitary confinement cope with their trauma and adjust to new lives.
When Freedom Still Feels Like Prison: Life After Solitary Confinement
Solitary confinement can cause severe psychological impacts and the U.N. considers it torture. Yet prolonged isolation remains widespread in U.S. prisons and jails, where more than 122,000 people are held in solitary.
Kendra’s Law in New York: Report Blasts Racial Disparities in Forced Mental Health Treatment
When someone is forced into treatment, it strips them of their autonomy, say critics of Kendra's Law in New York.
Alexei Navalny Died a Year Ago. His Writings Hold Lessons on Resisting Authoritarian Rule
“We must do what they fear – tell the truth, spread the truth. This is the most powerful weapon against this regime of liars, thieves, and hypocrites. Everyone has this weapon. So make use of it.”
Photoshopped Images, Scientific Fraud Derail Quest for Alzheimer’s Treatments
A reporter uncovers evidence that research fraud on a massive scale has hyped the potential benefit of expensive drugs aimed at slowing or reversing the mental decline of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Can ChatGPT Be Your Therapist? This Therapist Found Out for Herself
Can ChatGPT offer a viable alternative to traditional therapy? In this first-person essay, a licensed therapist explores that question.
What Was I Made For? Identity, Meaning, and the Emotional Cost of AI
Machines can now write, analyze, diagnose, and simulate emotional presence, triggering not just a technological disruption but one that strikes at who we think we are.
AI Can’t Replace a Therapist, But Millions Use It Like One. Replika’s Founder Answers the Critics
Eugenia Kuyda built an AI companion app that act like a friend, partner or therapist. She insists that industry standards, not lawmakers, should guide how AI therapy apps evolve.
Brown University Shooting Again Reveals Why Trauma Care Must Begin Before People Seek It
A former Brown student and longtime mental health journalist says that how institutions respond after traumatic events can shape mental health outcomes for years to come.
In Our Future, We Are Free: The Movement to Dismantle Youth Prisons in America
Over the past 20 years, one state after another has shuttered its youth prisons and stopped prosecuting kids as adults, slashing the number of children locked in cages by a stunning 75%. This new book tells the story of how a coalition of parents, activists, and prison officials brought a destructive institution to its knees.
The ICE Effect: Immigrants, Already Traumatized, Face Neglect in New York Jail
MindSite News spoke to a civil rights attorney about the harsh conditions for immigrants held at a New York jail.
I Shared 266 Pages of My Life with ChatGPT. Here’s What It Got Wrong.
Therapy, the author notes, "isn’t about telling you what you want to hear; it’s about helping you face what you need to hear." Using ChatGPT for therapy, however, is "both engaging and manipulative."
‘They Just Took You Away’
My daughter’s nightmares offer a window into how children are processing Trump’s immigration raids. Such expressions of fear are normal, mental health professionals say.
Hidden ‘Tax Bombs,’ High Anxiety: Protecting Students’ Mental Health During the Student Loan Shake-Up
College financial expert Jennifer Finetti on how youth can best take care of themselves in the wake of Trump administration changes.
California Must Learn from History. Forced Mental Health Care Harms More than Heals
Keris Myrick, who has lived with schizophrenia, contends that California's mental health system fails people by prioritizing forced treatment over humane care.
This ER Doc Has Been Surveying Public Attitudes on Authoritarianism. The Numbers Are Chilling
Research suggests a two-way dynamic: In the era of Donald Trump, anxiety, fear and uncertainty are leading to acceptance of authoritarianism and violence. This, in turn, provokes more anxiety and fear – and for some people, withdrawal.
What California Still Doesn’t Understand About Young Men’s Mental Health
In California, youth and young adults make up 21% of the population but account for 57% of all emergency room visits due to self-harm. When we offer real space to feel, boys start to breathe when they realize emotions are not liabilities but signals.
Fighting in War Still Didn’t Prepare Me for the Prison Mental Health Crisis
Nine years ago, I began serving as a volunteer peer counselor at the prison I'd transferred out of, providing support to people in the mental health unit. I’ve learned that trauma affects us all, and I’ve felt a growing sense of purpose.
The Weight of the World on Young Shoulders
Teens and young adults are coming of age amid a culture of fear, intensified by the rhetoric and policies of President Trump. Columnist Lisa Doggett and her 17-year-old daughter, Clara Williams, a rising high school senior, share their perspectives on what this means for Gen Z. Clara interviewed three other high school students in Austin.
Emiliano, Two Languages and a System That Doesn’t Understand Him
Emiliano, a boy diagnosed with ADHD, faces a system that doesn't know how to see him. While he deals with labels and barriers, his mother — a Guatemalan journalist and refugee in the United States — fights to pave the way for him, convinced that her son is not a problem to be fixed, but a beautiful mind that the world has not yet learned to understand.
Coming Medicaid Cuts Spell Disaster for People Needing Addiction Services, Especially Coming Out of Jail
Medicaid cuts being advanced by the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans could gut addiction services.
Happier Anniversary: What I Learned about Grief from the Suicides of My Parents
A doctor who lost both parents to suicide on how he has learned to cope with the anniversaries of their deaths.
‘A Public Health Emergency’: The Crusade to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness for Office
Dr. Bandy X. Lee says Trump has deteriorated, and the level of danger has vastly increased — especially because his symptoms have spread.
Therabot Study Flawed and Biased
A psychologist writes to say that our report on a randomized clinical trial for Therabot, an AI therapy chatbot, overlooked methodological weaknesses and researcher bias.
Surviving Solitary: People Who Endured Prolonged Isolation Push for Mental Health Care
Part 2 of this series looks at the forms of mental health care and support that can help people who have been subjected to solitary confinement cope with their trauma and adjust to new lives.
When Freedom Still Feels Like Prison: Life After Solitary Confinement
Solitary confinement can cause severe psychological impacts and the U.N. considers it torture. Yet prolonged isolation remains widespread in U.S. prisons and jails, where more than 122,000 people are held in solitary.
Kendra’s Law in New York: Report Blasts Racial Disparities in Forced Mental Health Treatment
When someone is forced into treatment, it strips them of their autonomy, say critics of Kendra's Law in New York.
Alexei Navalny Died a Year Ago. His Writings Hold Lessons on Resisting Authoritarian Rule
“We must do what they fear – tell the truth, spread the truth. This is the most powerful weapon against this regime of liars, thieves, and hypocrites. Everyone has this weapon. So make use of it.”
Photoshopped Images, Scientific Fraud Derail Quest for Alzheimer’s Treatments
A reporter uncovers evidence that research fraud on a massive scale has hyped the potential benefit of expensive drugs aimed at slowing or reversing the mental decline of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
