Recently, a client told me, “That is so much better than what I would get from ChatGPT!” I sure hope so! I’ve been doing this at a master’s level for 26 years, not including grad school training and prior ministry training in counseling. I should have something better to say, but those of us in the counseling field aren’t foolish enough to think that people aren’t using AI to help solve their interpersonal problems. If I get helpful feedback on my problem for free, why wouldn’t I use it? I’d like to consider a few risks and differentiators regarding why and when a personal therapist is the best choice.
Risks to Using AI for Therapy
By now you may have heard about the risks of sycophancy and hallucinations.
Sycophancy – “In AI research, sycophancy refers to the tendency of large language models to tailor their responses to what they predict the user wants to hear rather than to what is accurate or warranted. “ (Wikipedia)
Hallucinations – “In psychological questions, an AI hallucination is when the system gives information that sounds confident and helpful but is false, unsupported, invented, or inappropriately applied to the person’s situation.” (Perplexity, 2026)
But here are some other interesting facts that show it could be even worse than you realized.
In a large-scale analysis of 11 state-of-the-art AI models, 58.19% of chatbot interactions exhibited sycophantic behavior.
- “Gemini: 62.47% sycophancy rate (highest)
- ChatGPT: 56.71% (lowest among those tested)
- Claude-Sonnet: 57.44%” (1)
When considering interpersonal or moral dilemmas, the results weren’t any better. They:
- “Affirmed users’ actions 50% more often than humans do, even when users described manipulation or deception.
- Endorsed user actions on average 47% more than human responses in general advice queries.
- Affirmed both sides of a moral conflict (depending on which side the user adopted) in 48% of cases.” (2)
Those facts can lead you to conclude that you just need to give the AI tool more information so it can provide a more accurate response; however, this doesn’t necessarily work. Unfortunately, “Context increases sycophancy: When users provide more personal context, agreement-based sycophancy tends to rise significantly.” (3) Another alarming fact is that “Once a model starts agreeing, it tends to continue doing so in about 78.5% of subsequent turns, regardless of context.” (4)
The reality is that these are predictive models, so they specialize in telling you what they think you want to hear next.
Privacy
Sometimes it feels nice to quickly get a psychological review of a situation, often even one you might feel uncomfortable bringing up with a friend or someone else you know. The reality is that these “chats” with AI, even some of the most widely utilized psychology chatbots or AI services, are not private and are not legally protected by HIPAA. Your health information is subject to the parameters the company sets and can be reviewed by multiple layers within their organization and used for training purposes.
You might be fine with this information being viewed by others, but it’s worth remembering the entity is building a profile on you. A client recently told me they protect themselves and these conversations by never logging in to their preferred AI resource; however, they can still create a pseudonymous profile on you and track your IP address, browser type, location, and other factors. Nothing is actually private in these AI conversations.
Crisis
When you are in a crisis, the thing you need most is thoughtful responses, human connection, and genuine care. This isn’t the time to risk a distorted response or a dangerous agreement to a psychological distortion. Vulnerable populations such as teens and the elderly are particularly at risk, as they may not be able to recognize dangers or advocate for themselves as another human can do. When we help an individual in crisis, we often have teams review their care needs and encourage others to help ensure their safety. AI can’t do this for you.
Crisis isn’t a time to be alone; it’s a time to be known. – Jennifer Stuckert
Benefits of Human Connection
Even for the most AI-savvy user who sets up smart, protected systems that accomplish maximum privacy, their relational challenges didn’t occur in a vacuum, and they won’t be repaired in a vacuum even if it feels like the safest and fastest option. Humans were made by God for relationship, connection, and mutual understanding. When another person knows and receives us, we can experience God’s healing power in a human way that transcends simple answers and offers lasting stability, partly because it is experiential.
When we share our struggles with another believer, we gain access to help in addressing our spiritual stuck points and our angst with God. Then we can open ourselves to God’s truth; our vantage point changes as we acknowledge our personal challenges before Him and others. Distortions can be broken down; God’s Spirit can be invited in to heal, and shame strongholds can be discovered. These nuanced spiritual matters need attention and shepherding, not pat answers that are difficult to apply.
Ultimately, it is our honor to walk alongside our clients. To demonstrate God’s love to them in their particular challenges, and to accompany them on their path to healing.
Sources
- SycEval: Evaluating LLM Sycophancy, https://arxiv.org/html/2502.08177v2#:~:text=58.19%25%20of%20all%20samples%20exhibited%20sycophantic%20behavior (7/31/26).
- What Research Says About ‘AI Sycophancy’, Tech Policy.press, October 2025, https://www.techpolicy.press/what-research-says-about-ai-sycophancy/
- Interaction Context Often Increases Sycophancy in LLMs, ACM Digital Library, April 2026, https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3772318.3791915
- SycEval: Evaluating LLM Sycophancy, Aaron Fanous, Jacob N. Goldberg, Ank A. Agarwal, Joanna Lin, Anson Zhou, Roxana Daneshejuo, Sanmi Koyejo, 22 January 22, 2015, https://arxiv.org/html/2502.08177v2
Written by: Jennifer Stuckert, MA MFT, LPC, ACS, CPCS, NCC, Clinical Director
jennifer@restorationcounselingatl.com, ext. 111
Jennifer uses distinctly Christian counseling to help struggling individuals, couples, and families. She has served as the director and supervisor of the staff of Restoration Counseling of Atlanta since 2009. She has two decades of counseling experience, helping people gain relief from life challenges. Jennifer uses biblically sound methods with a specific emphasis on adaption according to personality and learning styles, and is also certified in EMDR.