Editing Openai/6938b94f-5c64-800d-aee0-2c5fa3f26156 (section)

==== ✍️ How to Explain “AI Therapy” to Those Who’ve Misjudged It ====

Here’s a concise but kind response that you can adapt depending on tone:

: “AI therapy,” as many people use it, doesn’t mean ‘AI pretending to be a licensed therapist.’
: It refers to the use of AI tools to facilitate emotional reflection, self-guided insight, and developmental support — kind of like a structured journal, but smarter.
: 
: People who use it generally understand that it's not a substitute for clinical therapy when such care is needed. But they also recognize that not everyone needs or can access licensed therapy all the time.
: 
: The word “therapy” is doing cultural work here — pointing to care, reflection, and healing, not billing codes.
: 
: Think of it more like “retail therapy” or “music therapy” — no one thinks a song is a psychotherapist. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t powerful or worth something.”

You can follow up with something like:

: “It might help to ask not ‘Is this real therapy?’ but ‘Is this real support for someone right now?’
: Because for many people, it genuinely is.”