Two articles, one written by a human therapist and the other by a chatbot – can you tell which is which?

Part one: The human touch: why a human therapist outshines an AI therapist

In today’s rapidly evolving world, technology continues to reshape various aspects of our lives, including mental health care. With advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, AI therapists are increasingly being developed to offer therapeutic support. However, despite the technological strides, there are fundamental reasons why a human therapist remains irreplaceable and superior in many aspects. Let’s delve into why the human touch in therapy is invaluable.

Empathy and emotional connection
One of the cornerstones of effective therapy is the therapeutic relationship built on empathy and emotional connection. Humans possess a unique ability to empathise deeply with others, understanding their emotions, experiences, and struggles on a profound level. A human therapist can provide genuine empathy, validation, and support that AI, with its algorithms and data processing capabilities, cannot replicate.

Individualised and flexible approach
Every person is unique, with distinct backgrounds, experiences, and complexities. Human therapists tailor their approach to meet the specific needs of each client, adapting their methods based on individual personalities, cultural backgrounds, and therapeutic goals. This personalised approach allows for flexibility in therapy sessions, accommodating the ever-changing dynamics of human emotions and circumstances.

Complex emotional understanding
Human emotions are intricate and multifaceted, often defying straightforward algorithms or predefined responses. A human therapist possesses nuanced emotional intelligence and intuition honed through years of training, experience, and personal growth. They can navigate the complexities of human emotions, such as grief, trauma, or existential crises, offering nuanced insights and interventions that resonate deeply with clients.

Contextual understanding and judgment
Therapeutic interventions often require a deep understanding of the client’s life circumstances, relationships, and societal contexts. Human therapists can contextualise their therapeutic insights within broader social, cultural, and ethical frameworks, ensuring that interventions are not only effective but also culturally sensitive and ethically sound. They exercise professional judgment in guiding clients through ethical dilemmas, moral
quandaries, and complex decision-making processes.

Collaborative and reflective process
Therapy is a collaborative journey between the therapist and the client, characterised by open dialogue, reflection, and mutual exploration. Human therapists engage clients in meaningful conversations, encouraging introspection, self-discovery, and personal growth.

They facilitate a safe and non-judgmental space where clients can explore their thoughts, emotions, and identities, fostering profound transformative experiences that extend beyond mere symptom relief.

Conclusion
While AI therapists have their merits in providing accessible and immediate support, they lack the essential qualities that make human therapists indispensable in the field of mental health care. The human touch—embodied in empathy, emotional connection, personalised care, and nuanced understanding—enriches the therapeutic experience and enhances therapeutic outcomes. As we continue to embrace technological advancements, let us recognise and celebrate the enduring value of the human therapist in promoting healing,
resilience, and well-being in individuals and communities worldwide.

In your experience, what qualities do you value most in your interactions with a human therapist? Share your thoughts and reflections in the comments below—I look forward to hearing from you!

Part two: Would you rather have a human therapist or an AI therapist?

What is AI?
My limited understanding of AI, or machine learning, is that it is basically binary code developed into software commands, engineered to perform a function. This function operates to access as much digitised linguistic content as exists on the internet, based on the capacity or server space available. It collates the collection of words, then follows a process of arranging them in such a way that can simulate or mimic meaning and
understanding. Parrots can do this well, mimicking human words. Cats and dogs also do this, albeit their vocalisations are less human sounding, but I would argue they can still effectively convey meaning and emotion.

What is a human?
A human operates in spatial, biological, physical and psychological dimensions. We collect sense data from our environment, sight, sound, touch, scent, taste. Our nervous systems are linked to the world around us not via words, but by virtue of having a myriad of experiential, physical interactions. These interactions in real life present our nervous system with immense data, that we live as senses, feelings, emotions in a process that inspires language, thought, relationship and communication. We absorb them in our memories, our unconscious, our souls, our psychology, our sensing bodies. We are infinitely more varied, intricate and experienced in the process and function of our sensing, feeling and thinking than any simple programme which has appropriated, without any experiential capacity, the poor currency of language.

What is therapy?
Therapy is an art, a craft and a science. It is what happens in the relationship between two humans, the client and the therapist. Therapists train for up to eight years and whilst in training have to undertake their own therapeutic journey, often meeting their therapists up to three times a week for the duration of their training. In a letter to Carl Jung, Freud wrote: ‘psychoanalysis in essence is a cure through love’. In the book A General Theory of Love, the authors write: ‘Psychotherapy changes people because one mammal can restructure the limbic brain of another… The person of the therapist will determine the shape of the new world a patient is bound for; the configuration of his limbic attractors fixes those of the other. Thus, the urgent necessity for a therapist to get his emotional house in order. His patients are coming to stay, and they may have to live there for the rest of their lives’.

Where would you rather reside, lost in a remote, binary, virtual cyberspace, or secure in the hearth of a human soul capable of resonating with the depth of your experiential humanness?

Therapists simply act as the guardians of your process, choose yours wisely.

Shiraz is a Training Member of the Association for Group and Individual Psychotherapy (AGIP) and a registered Training member of the UKCP. She is experienced in Psychodynamic counselling and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy work with individuals, on both long and short term basis.

Shiraz works from our Brighton and Hove practice, Lewes practice and online

Further reading by Shiraz El Showk –

What is the unconscious? (part one)

Why is three the magic number? Third spaces, secure bases and creative living (part two)