ArticleFrontiers in digital health2023
Your robot therapist is not your therapist: understanding the role of AI-powered mental health chatbots.
Article in Frontiers in digital health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Evaluating Generative AI in Mental Health: Systematic Review of Capabilities and Limitations.JMIR mental health · 2025Pooled it
- The Journey From Nonimmersive to Immersive Multiuser Applications in Mental Health Care: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Applications of large language models in psychiatry: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Liability and Standard of Care in AI-Driven Psychiatric Practice: European Viewpoint.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Are You Qualified, ChatGPT? Examining Clinical Skills and Competencies of ChatGPT in Delivering Systemic Interventions.Journal of marital and family therapy · 2026Article
- "I Really Feel Heard by AI": A Cultural Case Study of AI-Mediated Listening Across China and the UK.Culture, medicine and psychiatry · 2026Article
- A scoping review on the mental health harms of LLM-based chatbots.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- The Technologically Mediated Motherhood Constellation: Smartphone and AI as Novel Actors in Maternal Psychic Organization.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2026Article
- Breaking Barriers in Student Mental Health Care With AI-Enhanced Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Pilot Feasibility Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Evolution of Chatbots as an Educational and Supportive Digital Intervention for Family Caregivers of People With Dementia: Protocol for a Systematic Integrative Review.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Article
- Exploring Student Perceptions of Generative AI Therapists and Their Benefits and Challenges in Schools.International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie · 2026Article
- Personalized machine learning guided intervention for optimizing lifestyle behaviors in depression: a pilot study.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2026Article
- Current Landscape of Mental Health Conversational Agents From a Trauma-Informed Care Lens: Scoping Review.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Couple and Family Therapy: Introduction of the AI Competencies.Journal of marital and family therapy · 2026Article
- Usability of the "Be Yourself" IA-powered, chatbot-based website for the prevention of adolescent pregnancy.Investigacion y educacion en enfermeria · 2026Article
- Anthropomorphic technology in everyday life: focus on chatbots and impacts on mental health.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- AI companions and adolescent social relationships: Benefits, risks, and bidirectional influences.Child development perspectives · 2026Article
- The effectiveness of multilingual AI-based simulator for suicide risk assessment training in improving self-efficacy among young psychiatrists: a pilot study across twenty languages.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Mental health chatbots and their technical features: A systematic review of reviews and a thematic analysis.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots have the potential to substantially increase access to affordable and effective mental health services by supplementing the work of clinicians. Their 24/7 availability and accessibility through a mobile phone allow individuals to obtain help whenever and wherever needed, overcoming financial and logistical barriers. Although psychological AI chatbots have the ability to make significant improvements in providing mental health care services, they do not come without ethical and technical challenges. Some major concerns include providing inadequate or harmful support, exploiting vulnerable populations, and potentially producing discriminatory advice due to algorithmic bias. However, it is not always obvious for users to fully understand the nature of the relationship they have with chatbots. There can be significant misunderstandings about the exact purpose of the chatbot, particularly in terms of care expectations, ability to adapt to the particularities of users and responsiveness in terms of the needs and resources/treatments that can be offered. Hence, it is imperative that users are aware of the limited therapeutic relationship they can enjoy when interacting with mental health chatbots. Ignorance or misunderstanding of such limitations or of the role of psychological AI chatbots may lead to a therapeutic misconception (TM) where the user would underestimate the restrictions of such technologies and overestimate their ability to provide actual therapeutic support and guidance. TM raises major ethical concerns that can exacerbate one's mental health contributing to the global mental health crisis. This paper will explore the various ways in which TM can occur particularly through inaccurate marketing of these chatbots, forming a digital therapeutic alliance with them, receiving harmful advice due to bias in the design and algorithm, and the chatbots inability to foster autonomy with patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.