Early this year, new york times A study by Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Casimir Hill reveals a disturbing picture of the state of mental health. Many therapists have reported that their patients are experiencing paranoid behavior as a result of interacting with AI chatbots. It’s not just mental health professionals who are witnessing this. wired We recently documented legal efforts to curb chatbots from encouraging psychologically problematic behavior.
With the increasing presence of AI in many people’s lives, it’s no wonder that it should be considered when treating mental health issues. And now, earlier this month, a paper was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry It makes its case more formally, asserting that “such conversations are essential.”
As the authors explain, they chose to focus on why therapists should ask patients about how they use AI, rather than other factors related to patients’ use of AI. “While professional guidance focuses on how clinicians should use AI tools, conversations with patients about the use of AI have received less attention,” they wrote.
In an interview with NPR’s Ritu Chatterjee, one of the paper’s authors, Shadi K. Saba of New York University, argued that a non-judgmental approach to using AI is important. Dr. Saba compared therapists who ask patients about their use of AI to therapists who ask patients about their use of various substances. And this seems logical. If a patient associated with a chatbot and a patient who has never used AI have similar symptoms, treatment may require a completely different approach.
As NPR’s reporting on the new paper points out, its recommendations aren’t far removed from a more formal set of guidelines released last year. In November 2025, the American Psychological Association released a set of guidelines related to AI chatbots and health applications in general. The report argues that while chatbots are not a replacement for collaboration with a therapist, they “may be appropriate as an adjunct rather than a replacement for an ongoing therapeutic relationship.” Whatever form it takes, it’s good to see more experts exploring the myriad ways this technology intersects with mental health.
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