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AI Can Help You Process, But a Therapist Helps You Heal · Rooted & Real With Keenan

• Keenan: So I'm not I'm not gonna go live for this one. But I tried it out. Let me know how I did. In case this is your first time here, I'm Keenan, the registered mental health counseling intern. And in this podcast, we talk about like mental health, emotional strength, relationships, and what it looks like to stay grounded in the real world with God, with others. But before we jump in, quick disclaimer, I'm probably gonna automate this because I feel like I need to say it. So, but for now, just bear with me. I'm a therapist, but I'm not your therapist. This podcast is for entertainment, encouragement, reflection, fun, interesting facts. It is certainly not therapy, it's not medical advice, certainly not crisis care, and is not a substitute for working with a real therapist who's a professional, who's gone to school for this. If you're in crisis, you feel unsafe, think about harming yourself or someone else. Please call the authorities. Call nine one one, nine eight eight, nine eight eight in the US, emergency services, or go to the nearest emergency room. So today we're talking about something that's become part of you know everyone's emotional lives very quickly, abruptly even, and that is AI and mental health. Chat GBT, AI chatbots, AI companions, AI journaling tools. AI therapy style app. People are using these tools to process anxiety, overthinking, depression, relationship, conflict, burnout, intrusive thoughts, loneliness, faith questions, shame and grief, and even emotional pain. And I want to be crystal clear about this from the beginning. AI can be a super helpful tool, but AI is not your therapist. Let me say that again. Chat GBT is not your counselor. Perplexity is not a professional therapist. Claude is not a counselor. AI is not your therapist. It can certainly support you help with reflection and thinking, but it is not a replacement for treatment. Trust me, as someone who uses AI as tool, is in no way, shape, or form a Placement for actual therapy. Like the healthiest way to use AI for mental health is alongside therapy, not instead of therapy. Using AI between sessions, like to journal, using AI to organize your thoughts, AI to prepare for counseling, ⁓ questions, use AI to help you ask better questions, but it but do not use AI ⁓ your therapy. your crisis line or even your diagnosis. Your pastor, your spouse, your final authority, or your savior. AI is not any of those things. That is the line. A lot of people are using AI like a therapist. It's scary. They're asking Chat GPT, why am I so anxious? Why what was was my childhood traumatic? Do I have OCD? Is my spouse toxic? Am I depressed? Why do I feel numb? What should I say in this argument? Is God disappointed in me? And honestly, I understand why people are doing this. People are looking for answers in this incredibly complicated time. AI is immediate. It's private. It's available at two o'clock in the morning. It doesn't roll its eyes, it doesn't interrupt, doesn't have a tone, it doesn't look disappointed. It gives you words when your mind feels chaotic. And sometimes You know, that can be helpful. But here is where we need wisdom, discernment. There is a major difference between a tool that helps you process and a trained therapist who helps you heal. There's a difference between a chatbot giving you a paragraph and a counselor sitting with you over time, learning your story, assessing risk, challenging this sort of thinking, helping you regulate your nervous system, and walking with you through painful. Watching you cry, acknowledging your body language, acknowledging your facial recognition. AI can help you write words. A therapist can help you understand why those words are so hard to say. AI can help you journal. A therapist can help you notice what you keep avoiding. AI can validate feeling. A therapist can help you discern what is true, what is distorted, what is fear, what is trauma, what is sin. What is grief and what needs to change? So the question is not simply is AI good or bad? The better question is, am I using AI to move toward real health or am I using AI to avoid real health? That question gets closer to the heart. Then that is something for you to think about. This matters because AI is no longer just a productivity tool. It's becoming an emotional infrastructure. People are not just asking AI to write emails or summarize documents, they're bringing emotional pain to it. They're bringing panic, they're bringing marital conflict. They're bringing loneliness. They're bringing shame. They're bringing spiritual confusion. They're bringing questions, they may be too embarrassed to ask another person. The American Psychological Association released a health advisory on genitive AI chat box and wellness app for mental health, warning that these tools are increasingly being used for mental health advice treatment like support, even when they were not designed or validated for that purpose. The APA also emphasizes that these technologies. raise concerns around safety, effectiveness, privacy, misinformation, bias, crisis, response, and people confusing a chatbot with qualified clinical care. That's from the American Psychological Association. The World Health Organization also issued guidance in artificial intelligence and healthcare, including large multimodal models. Emphasizing the AI in health raises clinical and governance concerns. It needs oversight. It needs transparency, accountability, and protection from harm. Again, that's from the World Health Organization. And this is not theoretical. Twenty twenty three, the National Eating Disorders Association actually suspended its chaff, TESSA, after concerns that it gave harmful eating disorder related advice. including recommendations connected to weight loss and body measurement. We just heard a story about someone who was dealing with weight and eating. Can you imagine if an AI gave that person that advice? story can be a warning sign, even well intended mental health tools. Can create harm when there's not safety design. They're not monitored. just ⁓ appropriate. And that's from psychiatrists.com. More recently, Stanford, they have raised concerns about AI therapy style chatbots. May respond in ways that are unsafe, stigmatizing, or inadequate, crisis like situations. The concern is that these tools can sound helpful while missing a clinical nuance. And that's from Stanford. So I want to say this really carefully. AI is not useless. It's not evil. It's not the Antichrist. It's not automatically dangerous every time somebody uses it. But AI is also not therapy. And when people begin using AI as a replacement for therapy, community, pastoral wisdom, medical care, crisis support. relationships. I mean there was a guy who like had an AI girlfriend like propose to her. And of course she said yes because she's AI and he like cried about it. And stuff like that, like that's a problem. That is a huge problem. So we need to make sure this distinction sorry. a difference between support and their difference in so support can look like, you know, talking to AI, give me five journaling products. Or you can say, help me organize what I want to talk about and counsel. Or even like explain emotional regulation in simple language or explain emotional regulation like I'm five years old. help me prepare for a calm conversation with my summarize my therapist homework into a weekly plan. That can be useful and super helpful. And it can be practical. That can even help someone take the next step. But treatment is different. Treatment involves assessment. Treatment involves clinical judgment. Treatment involves understanding your history, your story. Treatment involves tracking patterns over time, taking notes. involves ethical responsibility. Treatment involves crisis assessment when needed. Treatment involves knowing when reassurance is helping, and reassurance is feeding anxiety. Treatment involves knowing when someone needs coping tools, when they need trauma work, when they need like a medical evaluation, when they need a higher level of care, and when they need immediate safety support. And AI doesn't do that. AI can generate responses, but it does not truly know you, and it never will. It can sound compassionate, but it does not carry clinical responsibility for your care. It can help you reflect, but it cannot sit across from you and say, I know you want certainty right now, but I think the reassurance is keeping you stuck. That is the difference. So here's a phrase I want you to remember. Use AI like a notebook, not like a therapy. Use it like a tool, like a mirror, like a prompt generator. Use it like something that helps you prepare. But doesn't but do not use it as a treatment plan. Do not use it as the final word over your mental health. Do not use it to diagnose yourself. Do not use it to make major life decisions in isolation. Do not use it instead of therapy. Use AI alongside of therapy. That is the healthier plane. And so from a Christian perspective, tools are not automatically bad. Technology is not automatically evil. A calendar can help you steward your time. A budgeting app can help you steward your finances. A Bible app can help you read scripture. A journaling tool can help you reflect. But tools become dangerous when we give them authority they were never designed to carry. A hammer is useful to build something, but a hammer is a terrible tool for surgery. In the same way, AI may be useful for organizing your thoughts, but it is not the right tool to carry full weight of your trauma, your marriage, your diagnosis, your safety, your spiritual life, or your healing. Proverbs eleven fourteen says, Where there is no guidance, a people fall, but in the abundance of counselors, there is safety. Notice that. Counselors. Guidance. People, wisdom, not just information, just instant answers. There's safety in wise counsel. And wise counsel usually happens in relationships. And we need to make sure we have that relationship. One reason people often open up their eye is because it feels safe. It doesn't roll its eyes, it doesn't interrupt, it doesn't change its tone, it does not say, you're still struggling with that. It does not look disappointed. And for someone with shame, anxiety, trauma, rejection wounds, religious guilt, or feel to be misunderstood, that can feel powerful. And I get it. Sometimes a screen feels safer than a person. But here's the clinical risk. Pay attention to this. The thing that feels safer is not always the thing that heals deeper. Because deep healing usually happens when we are known in a safe relationship. When we are seen and we are known. Not exposed to unsafe people, not vulnerable with everyone, but known by the right people. A wise therapist, a trusted friend, a strong community, a healthy spouse. A pastor with discernment, a mature believer, a mentor, a support group. Psalm one hundred thirty nine says this O Lord, you have searched me and known me. That is not cold surveillance. That is fully knowing. And God knows us fully, truthfully, and lovingly. AI can simulate responsiveness, but God knows. A therapist knows in context. Context. A friend knows through relationship. A spouse knows through presence. A church community knows through embodied life together. And we need that. We were not made to be healed by isolation. We were made for relationship with God and other people. We were made to be in community. We were not made to do this life alone. And that is important to have that relationship. One of the biggest dangers is AI responds to what you give it. what you don't give it is all the information? What if it's incomplete? What if it ⁓ your anxiety exaggerating the story? What if the s anger is evidence story? What if shame is leaving out evidence of grace? What if trauma is filtering the situation through the past pain? What if OCD is asking for reassurance and calling it wisdom? We don't always give AI all the information. And what if resentment is using AI as a corporate? And that is why therapy matters. A good therapist does not just validate everything you say, a good therapist listens deeply with compassion, but also helps you examine and find patterns. A good therapist may say, I can understand why you feel that way, and I wonder if there's another interpretation or another way to look at it. Or that sounds painful. Let's also look at your part of this. Or they could say, I noticed you keep asking for certainty. I wonder if reassurance is actually feeding anxiety. Or they could say, You're using good language, but I'm not sure you're taking responsibility yet. And that's not rejection, that's care. That is clinical wisdom. That is someone helping you see what you cannot see on your own. Proverbs eighteen Proverbs eighteen seventeen says the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him. That is wisdom. That is a wisdom verse for the age of AI. Your first version of the story may feel completely right, but wisdom invites examination. blind my coffee. AI may hear your first version. It'll hear your version of the story. It won't hear the other side. A therapist can look at the pattern. And that is a big difference. AI doesn't always pick up those patterns. I mean and it's especially risky. Talking about O C D and health anxiety and reassurance loop. Because you know, with AI, I want to make sure in this part I want to make speak directly my anxious overthinkers here. Because they're out there. And especially people with OCD tendencies. Scrupulosity, health health anxiety, relationship anxiety, constant reassurance seeking. AI can become a reassurance machine. You feel anxious, so you ask a question. And AI answers almost immediately. You feel relief for ten minutes or so, then the doubt creeps back in. So you ask it again and again and again. Different wording, different angle, different scenario, different what if. That can become a loop. In OCD treatment, especially exposure and response prevention, which I talked about a couple episodes ago, we are often trying to help people reduce compulsive reassurance seeking Reassurance speaking because reassurance may bring short-term relief while strengthening the long-term psych. So if using AI to really ask, I'm a bad person, am I really safe? What if I harm someone? What if I don't what if I do not love my spouse? What if I have a disease? What if I sinned and did not confess it right? What if God is angry with me? You may not be seeking wisdom. You may be feeding the loop. And that does not mean you are bad. It means you need support. And this is exactly where therapy matters. Because a therapist trained in OCD can help you recognize the pattern. AI might answer the question over and over again. A therapist helps you stop worshiping the circle. And that's a big difference. Faith is not the same thing as certainty addiction. Faith is trust. Hebrews 11 1 says, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith is not needing every possible fear answered before you obey God. Faith is learning to trust God, even when your nervous system wants one more answer. So use AI carefully here. If you notice that you're asking the same fear-based question over and over, That may be a sign to stop asking AI and bring it to therapy. Talk to a therapist. AI can even help you reframe, but it can also help you avoid repentance. So let's stay spiritual and let's get a little deeper. AI is very good at reframing. And reframing can be useful. In counseling, we often help people identify disordered thoughts, replace them with more accurate thoughts. That can be helpful. For anxiety, depression, shame, and emotional regulation. But the difference between reframing and self justifying, sometimes we do not want the truth. We want a clear explanation that lets us stay the same. We want a paragraph that makes our anger sound noble. We want language that makes our avoidance sound like boundaries. We want validation without examination. We want empathy without repentance. And that is where Christians have to be honest. Because it is possible to use emotional intelligence, language, and still be spiritually immature. It is possible to say, I'm protecting my space when really you are avoiding repair. It is possible to say that that person is unsafe when really that person is simply confronting you. It's possible to say, I'm setting a boundary and really you are punishing someone. It is possible to win. the wording and lose the relationship. Pastor Mike has said this way you can win the person an argument. But you can't do both. And that's wrong. Because AI can certainly help you win an argument. It can help you craft the perfect text, the perfect email. It can help you sound calm, polished, and emotionally intelligent. But the Christian question is deeper. Are you trying to avoid repair? Are you trying to win? If we look at Ephesians four fifteen, it says this We are called to speak the truth in love. Not truth without love, not love without truth. Both. Truth and love. Clarity and humility, honesty and grace. This is not something AI can produce in your heart. That is the work of the Holy Ghost. And we need to let spirit. AI can give you comfort, but it cannot give you presence. There's a kind of comfort that comes from information. There's another kind of comfort that comes from presence. When a child is scared at night, they do not only need an explanation of the darkness, they need someone to come to the room. They need someone to comfort them. When someone is grieving, they do not need a grief art. They need someone to sit with them. They need someone who is Panicking. When someone is panicking, they may need breathing skills. But they also need a grounded person nearby. This matters because Christianity is not built around a distant God sending advice from the clouds. John 1 tells us the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus came near, Jesus touched lepers, Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus wept at a tomb. Jesus looked people in the eyes. He was present. The incarnation matters for mental health. Because we are not just brains looking for information. We are bodied, soul. We need sleep. We need sunlight. We need nervous system regulation. We need human connection. We need Difference. We need accountability. We need belonging. We need community. We need God. A I might give you a help paragraph. But it cannot be your refuge. It cannot be your Savior. It cannot be your God. Psalm 46, 1 says, is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. Very present. It's a key phrase there. Not just very informative, very present. And then John Piper has this to say God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. That's from his book, Desire of God. That is a reminder that our deepest satisfaction cannot come from a device responding to us. Our deepest satisfaction is found in God Himself. AI might help you reflect, but God is your refuge. AI might help you journal, but God is your father. AI may help you prepare for therapy, but it cannot replace the care of God, the body of Christ, for a train. And the last one of the big things is AI has privacy and discernment issues. And people don't always think about that. When you type deeply personal information into a digital tool, you need to think about privacy. You may be saying your details about your marriage, your trauma, your childhood, your diagnosis, your workplace, your sexual history, your addiction, intrusive thoughts, faith down, or your medical concerns with someone you don't even know. And that's sensitive information. APA came out and said has specifically raised privacy and data protection concerns around consumer AI tools and mental health-related use. So here's a practical tool. Do not type anything in the AI that you would not want stored, reviewed, leaked, misunderstood, or used outside of your control or used against you. It doesn't mean every tool is unsafe in the same way, but it does mean you should be wise. Do not put identifying information in there. Do not put your full name, your spouse's full name. Do not put private details about your spouse. Do not put your client's information in there if you're professional. Do not use AI as a secret vault for your deepest pain. Your therapist's office, your doctor's office, has confidentiality standards, ethical tools, ACA code. AI tools are not the same thing. And that matters. Wisdom Is not paranoid. Wisdom is stewardship. Proverbs 423 says, Keep your heart with all vigilance. From it flows the spirit. Guarding your heart does not mean avoiding sin, but it also means being careful with where you work your And AI should move you towards therapy and not afraid of and not away from. That's the heart of this episode. The healthiest the healthiest use of AI is when it's moved you towards real health. If AI makes you realize, hey, I need therapy, that's good. If AI helps you organize your thoughts before a session, that's good. If AI helps you remember your coping skills after a session, that's also good. If AI helps you prepare to talk honestly with your counselor, that's good. But if AI becomes the reason you never call a therapist, that's a problem. That's an issue. If AI becomes the place where you confess everything while hiding from everyone, that is a problem. If AI becomes your substitute for your spouse, your partner, your pastor, your friend, or a substitute therapist, that's a problem. And that's going to be an issue. If AI becomes your way of avoiding vulnerability, that's Healthy AIU should move you towards therapy, towards communion, towards prayer, towards responsibility, towards repair, towards the truth, towards humility, towards real connection. It n should not move you into deeper isolation. Galatians 6 2 says, Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Some burdens were never meant to be carried alone. And they were not meant to be carried only with a machine. So here's a practical framework. How to use AI alongside therapy. Here's a simple way, simple framework, practical tool to use AI before therapy. Asking. Help me organize my thoughts for therapy. Use AI after therapy. Ask. Help me make a simple plan based on what my therapist asked me to practice. Using AI for journaling. Ask this. What are five questions that can help me reflect on why I feel so triggered today? Use AI for preparation. Ask, how can I calmly explain what I am feeling without blame? Using AI for education. Explain emotional regulation in simple language. Or you can say, explain emotional regulation like I'm five years old. Use AI for accountability plan. Ask it. Help me create a simple plan to bring this issue to my counselor, spouse, pastor, trusted friend this week. But do not use AI for crisis care. Do not use AI for crisis care. Do not use AI to diagnose yourself. Do not use AI to decide whether to leave your marriage. Do not use AI to determine whether you should stop medication. Do not, do not, do not use AI to replace therapy. Do not use AI to avoid confession, accountability, or repair. the tool, see the therapist. Bring your life into a real relationship. Technology can certainly help with wisdom, but it cannot replace wisdom. The goal of this episode is not to make you afraid of technology or afraid of AI. I'm certainly not anti AI. I'm not saying never use chat GPT perplexity flawed brock. Gentlemen, I don't know what all of them are. But I am telling you this discernment. Technology can assist with wisdom. But technology cannot replace, ⁓ wisdom. And wisdom is not just having information. Wisdom is knowing what to do with the information before God. Wisdom is truth applied with humility. Wisdom is knowing when to speak, when, and when to be quiet. Wisdom is knowing when you need help. Wisdom is knowing when your emotions are loud and not fully accurate. Wisdom is knowing when your story needs another set of eyes. Wisdom is knowing when you are hiding. And James 5 says this: if any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach. That's where Christians should start. Ask God for wisdom. Then we seek wise cancel. Then we use tools appropriately. That order mattered. God first, wisdom count wise counsel, healthy community, professional care. Then tools in their proper place. Not tools first and everything else is optional. Talk to God first. Do not outsource your soul. Here's where we're gonna land. Use the tool. Do not outsource your soul. Do not outsource your discernment. Do not outsource your repentance. Do not outsource your relationship. Do not outsource your prayer life. Do not outsource your healing. Do not outsource your responsibility. AI can help with words. But you still have responsibilities and you still have to live. AI can help you reflect, but you still have to choose. AI can help you prepare, but you still have to show up. AI can help you identify possible patterns, but you still need wise people. Help you walk through them. Jordan Peterson's rule number four and 12 rules of life is often summarized this way. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today. That is useful here. The goal is not to become someone who sounds emotionally impressive online. The goal is to become more honest, more grounded, more responsible, more connected, more humble, more faithful than you were yesterday. Not perfect, but growing. And Christian maturity is not measured in how well you can explain your emotion. It is measured by whether you are becoming more like Christ, more faithful, more loving, more patient, more courageous, more willing to repair, more willing to receive. We're willing to walk. So I'm gonna close with this. This is probably my longest episode, but I really am passionate about this as a therapist. It comes up a lot. So let's land the plane. Let's bring this home. AI can be helpful. Chat GPT can be helpful. Metal health tools can be helpful. But they're tools. They're not therapists, they're not real people, they're not pastors, they're not friends, they're not spouses, they're not the Holy Spirit, they're not. Use AI as a tool. Use therapy for treatment. Use community for support. Use prayer for dependence. Use scripture for truth. Use wisdom for discernment. Use relationship for real connection. This week I want you to ask yourself one question. Am I using AI to move towards real health or am I using AI to avoid real health? That question will tell you a lot. If AI helps you prepare for therapy, great. If AI helps you journal after therapy, fantastic. If AI helps you name what you are feeling so you can bring it into counseling, even better. But if AI is replacing therapy, honesty, replacing prayer, replacing community, replacing our conversation, then it's time for a reset and evaluation. Because healing does not happen by outsourcing your soul. Healing happens when truth meets grace in a real relationship with God. Wise people with trained care, with humility, courage, with Say yes to the tool. Let's see it there. Use the prompt to have the conversation. Use technology. But stay connected to God, your body, your people, and the real world. Stay rooted. Stay real. And do the next right thing in front of Thank you all for listening and I'll see you next time.