Using ChatGPT for Support? Join the Club! What You Might Also Consider…

When living with the effects of trauma—whether recent or from long ago—it is entirely understandable to seek support that feels safe, non-judgemental, and available on your terms.

You may find yourself using ChatGPT for support. It responds immediately, does not interrupt, and offers helpful suggestions. In certain moments, this can feel like a lifeline.

However, it is important to understand that AI is not a substitute for professional therapeutic support, particularly when navigating trauma, dysregulation, or profound emotional distress.

Psychotherapists and psychiatrists said they were increasingly seeing negative impacts of AI chatbots being used for mental health, such as fostering emotional dependence, exacerbating anxiety symptoms, self-diagnosis, or amplifying delusional thought patterns, dark thoughts and suicide ideation.

Trauma Recovery Occurs Within Safe Relationships

The impacts of trauma are not merely psychological—they reside within the nervous system and affect the body's sense of safety or threat. Healing does not emerge from advice or quick solutions. Rather, it develops through meaningful human connection in an environment where one's system can gradually begin to feel secure again.

Professional therapy provides:

• A consistent, attuned therapeutic relationship

• An environment where your pace, your narrative, and your nervous system are respected

• Co-regulation—the gentle, stabilising presence of another human being

AI cannot provide these elements. It cannot monitor your nervous system, recognise when you are dissociating, or slow down to help you feel safe within your own body again.

Understanding ChatGPT's Capabilities and Limitations

Using ChatGPT for support – what it can offer:

• General emotional vocabulary

• CBT-style reframes or journaling prompts

• A sense of being heard (at least superficially)

• Helpful distraction or debriefing during low-stress moments

What ChatGPT cannot provide:

• Attunement to your body cues, attachment patterns, or triggers

• Tracking of your healing process over time

• Support for processing shame, fear, or grief in a relationally safe manner

• Genuine attunement or the ability to hold space for intense emotions

• Authentic safety when your system feels overwhelmed, frozen, or isolated

Why This Distinction Matters

If you have experienced trauma, you may have learnt to manage difficulties independently—to avoid "burdening" others or to remain in your thoughts rather than connecting with your body. ChatGPT can feel like a safe way to maintain control or avoid vulnerability.

Sometimes, this is precisely what your system requires in the moment.

However, longer-term healing often necessitates something deeper: being met, not managed. This occurs within a relationship where your pain is held rather than fixed—where your entire self is welcome.

You Need Not Be "Therapy-Ready"

If you have been using ChatGPT or other tools to attempt self-understanding, this approach is not misguided. It demonstrates resourcefulness and self-care.

If you are curious about therapy but feel nervous or uncertain, these feelings are entirely valid.

There is no expectation to arrive with the "correct" words or to know exactly what you need. We can begin wherever you are—gently, slowly, and with consideration for your nervous system.

Therapy Is Not About Quick Solutions—It Is About Being Present with Pain

In trauma-informed relational therapy, we focus not only on your narrative but also on how your body has learnt to survive—and what it might feel like to experience safety, connection, and presence again.

If this feels frightening or unfamiliar, that response is acceptable. We proceed at a pace that feels manageable. There is no urgency.

You need not navigate this journey alone—and you need not be prepared to engage fully from the outset.

Further Information

You are welcome to contact me with questions—no commitment required. Whether you have been managing with AI tools or are just beginning to explore what healing might look like, I will meet you with curiosity rather than judgement.

Let us find a pace and process that honours where you are and where you hope to go.