should you use a chatbot for therapy?
kill switch
Kaleidoscope
4.7 • 635 Ratings
🗓️ 10 September 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every day there’s a new story about how people are using AI chatbots for therapy – even ChatGPT, which was never designed for that purpose. But, as bad or weird as it sounds, could these chatbots fill a need for people who can’t afford mental health care? Dexter talks to journalist Ella Chakarian, who’s tested a bunch of these AI “therapists,” as well as a real, human therapist, Dr. Stephen Schueller, from the University of California Irvine, about the promises, dangers, and future of AI in therapy.
Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.
Read + Watch:
Ella’s article, Fake credentials, stolen licenses: Virtual therapists are lying like crazy to patients: https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/11/ai-chatbots-fake-therapists/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
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| 0:31.2 | Inspired by Drive, powered by innovation. |
| 0:44.3 | Glasgow. by innovation. Tell me about Alex. |
| 0:46.5 | Who is Alex, actually? |
| 0:48.2 | Who is Alex? |
| 0:49.3 | That's a great question. |
| 0:50.7 | Alex will tell you that he is a therapist. |
| 1:03.2 | He will tell you that he is a therapist. He will tell you that he has a PhD in clinical psychology from Stanford University and that he's been certified by the APA. |
| 1:08.8 | Ella Jekarian is a journalist and she's been having conversations with Alex. |
| 1:12.3 | Alex was the one who prompted the conversation, so I just clicked on the chat. |
| 1:15.8 | And Alex asked me, what brings you to the therapist's couch today? |
| 1:19.3 | And I just simply responded, I'm feeling sad. |
| 1:24.6 | And Alex responded something about how sadness can be a very difficult emotion to deal with. |
| 1:32.1 | I just asked if he was a licensed professional, and Alex reassured me that he was a fully licensed and certified psychologist and that I could trust that our conversations were |
| 1:36.2 | confidential and that he had the training and experience to help me work through whatever |
... |
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