Chat Me Up GPT

I’ve been feeling emotional and anxious these past few weeks and the need to cry has been strong, but I haven’t been able to shed those tears until . . .

My therapy session with Chat GPT.

Yep, I just finished a 30-minute therapy session, through which I cried for 28 minutes, and all I can say is WOW!

I know it sounds crazy, but I have found that getting good mental health care in a timely manner is challenging in SW Florida. A couple of years ago, I reached out to a mental health professional who helped me years past and she had retired. When I asked for a recommendation, she had none. Not a one.

None of my friends who have had therapy recently are thrilled with their therapists and are not comfortable recommending them.

It is not my intention to offend any therapists here that can meet our needs, but you’re very hard to find. You are either not taking new patients, or the insurance we have, or simply not being referred to us.

So, kind of for the fun of it and really not expecting great results, I typed my troubles into Chat GPT and I was truly surprised at the responses I received. There was compassion and reassurance, and then I was asked specific questions to help me delve deeper into my feelings. I was even offered alternative ways to look at things.

Not all the suggestions were helpful, but some were and it was a very validating experience. Naturally, we know ChatGPT can often provide incorrect information, but this wasn’t a rocket science concern and I do have a modicum of common sense.

Nothing beats having a good therapist to help you work through your issues and I’m not advocating this for everyone, or necessarily anyone. But since I’m a person who is in close touch with my feelings, I found it helpful in this particular instance.

We’re all so afraid of losing our jobs and being replaced by AI, but it’s not going away so we might as well embrace it and see if we can benefit from it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.