The Future Is Now: Chatbots are Replacing Mental Health Workers

Curt and Katie chat about what happened with the National Eating Disorder Association and their chatbot, Tessa, as well as new prompts to make ChatGPT act like a CBT therapist. We also look at the risks related to chatbots taking over mental health and crisis services. We also discuss what therapists can do to safeguard their practices in the wake of the robot revolution.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode we talk about Tessa, the chatbot replacing NEDA hotline workers

After their hotline workers unionized, National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) fired all of their hotline workers and replaced that service with Tessa, an AI chatbot. This chatbot quickly started telling folks seeking eating disorder assistance that dieting could be a good idea. There are already prompts folks are using to have ChatGPT act as your therapist. We decided we needed to talk about how the chatbots are coming for our jobs.

What happened with National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) and Tessa?

·      The hotline workers unionized and were fired by the association and replaced with Tessa

·      Tessa is a prevention chatbot that was created to provide support to folk waiting for resources

·      Tessa was launched and when tried, provided harmful advice, and then was taken down

·      Now there is no crisis hotline or back up chat support offered by NEDA

What is the Tessa Chatbot?

·      An evidence-based practice was redesigned as conversations

·      Writing prompts and infographics to break up the text

·      Studies were done to see how it works and to fix some of the errors

What are the risks related to chatbots taking over mental health services?

·      There are now instructions for prompts to have ChatGPT act as a CBT therapist

·      As people interact with chatbots, they will add to the dataset, theoretically improving it

·      The concerns about the iterations, if unchecked, will become more and more harmful as it adopts human disordered thinking and language

·      Evidence-based practices are prime to be put into chatbots

·      The utility of the resources that chatbots can provide (including coping strategies and writing prompts)

What can therapists do to address the concerns of the robot revolution?

·      Understand the technology and pay attention to the innovation process

·      Look at where AI may not be able to replace immediately, focus your attention there in developing your skills

·      Intuitive leaps that humans make that AI may find too risky

·      Higher level risk assessment and more challenging diagnoses may be reserved for humans

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Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Creative Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano https://groomsymusic.com/