Yes, You Can Use AI in Therapy (And Here’s How)

By Nicole Saunders, LCSW |

If you’re already using AI in your work, your parenting, your calendar, and your late-night Googling—why wouldn’t it show up in therapy too?

Clients are starting to ask me:

  • “Is it okay if I show you something I wrote with ChatGPT?”
  • “Can I use AI to help continue the conversation we started today in session?”
  • “Can we use AI to create affirmations that don’t sound cheesy?”

Yes. Yes. And yes.

Therapy doesn’t have to be old-school to be effective. In fact, AI can enhance the work if it’s used with intention.

Why It Works

Most people walk into therapy with a foggy idea of what they want to talk about. Sometimes we spend half the session just trying to name the thing.

AI can speed that part up.

You can use it before your session to:

  • Journal about what’s bothering you
  • Sort through competing thoughts or emotional “noise”
  • Identify patterns
  • Translate that swirl of inner chaos into language

Think of it like a warm-up. It doesn’t do the workout for you—but it gets you ready to go deeper, faster.

What You Can Actually Bring to Session

If you’re already using AI tools in your personal life, you can bring:

  • A journal entry or thought spiral you typed into ChatGPT
  • A summary of what you’ve been tracking emotionally this week
  • A list of prompts you found helpful or interesting
  • Even a weird or helpful exchange you had with your AI app
  • Recent dream analysis

I’m not here to judge it—I’m here to help you make meaning out of it, and I find it takes our work in session to a new level!

Some clients say AI helped them “hear” themselves clearly for the first time. Others say it gave them a surface-level insight they want to go deeper into. That’s where I come in.

A Note of Caution: When AI Gets in the Way

Let’s be clear: AI can’t hold your pain, challenge your avoidance, or sit with your silence. It can make you feel productive without actually touching what matters. It can also reinforce cognitive distortion if you’re not careful.

That’s why it’s not therapy. But it can be a tool inside therapy.

How I Work With It as Your Therapist

  • I’ll never make you use AI—but if you’re using it, I want to help you use it well.
  • I help clients sort out: What’s true for me? What’s borrowed from the machine? What deserves more attention?
  • I won’t analyze a chatbot’s response—I’ll analyze your response to it.

That’s the work. And honestly? It’s fascinating.

Here’s the Bottom Line

AI isn’t replacing therapy. But it’s reshaping how we prepare for it, how we reflect between sessions, and how we deepen the work.

You don’t have to pretend AI isn’t part of your emotional life. If you’re using it to reflect, distract, explore, compare, soothe, or spiral—it’s relevant. Bring it in.

We’ll work with it. Together.

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