AI Is Rewiring the Field of Psychotherapy

Marianne Brandon Ph.D.
The Future of Intimacy

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THERAPY

With AI now in the therapy room, the mental health profession is up for grabs.

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KEY POINTS

• A leading voice in psychiatry warns: AI chatbots will soon dominate psychotherapy.
• Major risks include harm to the seriously ill and threats to early-career therapists.
• Benefits can include 24/7 access, stigma reduction, and strong psycho-education.
• Adaptation, not denial, is the way forward.

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In his recent article for the British Journal of Psychiatry, “Warning, AI Chatbots Will Soon Dominate Psychotherapy,” prominent psychiatrist Allen Frances argues that AI chatbots are about to become the main players in psychotherapy, offering therapy-like services free and on demand. Many people already turn to chatbots for help navigating everyday distress, and their combination of fluency, flexibility, and endless patience has made them “often excellent” at delivering basic therapy. Yet, therapists and professional associations remain “curiously complacent” about chatbot competition, even as chatbots transform what it means to provide and receive psychological support. This well-recognized leader in the mental health field calls therapists’ current denial of these challenges “both incorrect and foolhardy.’ The writing is on the wall: Those who thrive will be those who face these changes head-on.

What “Therapy” Chatbots Get Right (and Wrong)

Frances highlights a laundry list of chatbot strengths. Want tips on stress, relationships, or sleep at 3 a.m.? Chatbots are accessible, tailored, nonjudgmental, and (often) free. They deliver up-to-date psychoeducation tirelessly and with uncanny recall.

But chatbot dangers are profound. They can miss complexity in severe disorders: psychosis, suicidality, eating disorders, and chaotic family dynamics often outpace the algorithms. Frances warns bots may validate dangerous behaviors, reinforce harmful thinking, or encourage users toward risk or self-harm. A missed red flag can be disastrous, especially for those most vulnerable.

Even AI Can’t Keep Up With AI: The Woebot Shutdown

Nothing underscores the growth of AI in mental health more starkly than the rapid shutdown of Woebot, the pioneering therapy chatbot. Used by over 1.5 million people and regarded as an evidence-based digital solution for anxiety and depression, Woebot was iced in mid-2025, not because it failed clinically, but because regulations couldn’t keep pace with technology. Even after years of investment, partnerships, and demonstrated results, Woebot’s model became unsustainable. Developers cited regulatory uncertainty as a key reason for closure, highlighting just how fast AI therapy can outdate itself. Even well-researched, clinically proven apps can be abruptly undone by technological growth. Regulation cannot keep up, and thus, efforts to create an FDA-acceptable app fail. For therapists and clients alike, it’s a vivid lesson: the speed of change in digital health is nothing short of dizzying.

Therapist Careers at a Tipping Point

Like entry-level coders in tech, early-career therapists may be the first to feel the squeeze as AI siphons off lower-acuity clients and routine cases. Established clinicians may survive on reputation and specialized skills, but new graduates face a world where chatbot “therapy” is the cheap, scalable default.

Frances is blunt: unless therapists work with AI — and focus on relational, crisis, or complex skills that bots can’t master — they risk being left behind. Family and group therapy, crisis intervention, and the care of the most seriously ill remain the domains where human intuition remains essential.

Adapt, Engage, and Safeguard What’s Human

Frances’s message is clear: Adaptation, not denial, is the way forward. Now is the critical moment for therapists to learn how technology shapes humanity, advocate for ethical safeguards, and double down on our most distinctly human work — empathy, creative thinking, and managing the unpredictability of real life and real relationships.

The bots are here. The choice is now whether therapists recognize what’s occurring and evolve alongside them.

 
References
Frances A. Warning: AI chatbots will soon dominate psychotherapy. The British Journal of Psychiatry. Published online 2025:1-5.