LLMs are an echo chamber. They reflect back what we put into them, both in training, and in usage. This can certainly be useful for working through problems, but they can also amplify and reinforce harmful patterns of thought.
If you're spiralling downwards, the worst thing is for an LLM to echo that accelerate the spiral. There's no evidence (only anecdotes) to suggest that LLMs are able to prevent that spiralling in a way that a mental health professional is trained to do.
It's actually not in most places. Maybe in SF or Seattle?
[CW: long-ass heavy-duty story happening closer to you than you think.]
I don't know what your mental health history is, but one of my friends had to use a VPN, then lie about their location to a volunteer operator, in order to access a suicide prevention chatline on the other side of the globe, just to have someone help them keep it together while their ex-SO was actively driving them to suicide - or worse.
They also had to move to the middle of nowhere so that the ex, or the friends of the ex, wouldn't be able to randomly show up at their door. The (widely lauded) only domestic abuse hotline in the country did exactly half of nothing whatsoever, shout out Animus foundation, hashtag slay queen.
I wish I could've somehow helped to resolve that whole situation, I was probably the only one of their acquaintances who even had any idea what they were going through; all the same, at the time I was stuck in my own cycles of psychological warfare. There's only so much support you can provide without getting dragged down with them, you know?
Perhaps a trained professional in a therapeutic environment can help somewhat more, but would they be able to help sufficiently to get back on their feet someone who has been failed by the entire societal edifice starting with primary caretakers? Not necessarily. I mean have you even seen some of the sorts of people that become therapists? They might as well be vibe coders!
This is in EU, though admittedly not the "former colonial power" part of the EU. So you end up presuming quite a lot, just because where you live the state has taken some more organized measures to prevent people from freaking out (at realizing what's going on around them, hehehe.)
xoz123 gets it. Sometimes there is no non-adversarial person available. Sometimes it's absolutely overwhelming to be the only adult, small and powerless in a room of powerful overgrown toddlers. Sometimes you're the only sane and conscientious person, forced to conform to a culture of self-important violent psychopaths. Sometimes it's all that, plus the state wants to punish you for the fact that you suffer. Most of the time, you're on your own, and that alone serves as sufficient ground for being subjected to censure.
And sometimes it's worse. I seriously worry about how much worse it can be made with the help of some AI that is trained to be more familiar with these type of phenomena than any civilized person cares to be, and has none of the basic restraints.
When I started therapy, I felt the same way. But now I realize that there can be no easy solutions offered in therapy; the therapist cannot just give you an argument or trick that will resolve all your troubles. They are there to guide you through figuring it out yourself and help build the necessary habits to sustain the new state. That is why rapport between a therapist and their patient is crucial to success, thus why you are usually recommended to try several alternatives.
