Therapist on ChatGPT in psychotherapy: patients break up on its advice — and I use it too

Psychotherapist Sarah Dargut published a personal essay in The Guardian on July 8, 2026, about how ChatGPT penetrated the psychotherapist's office — first through patients, and then through the doctor herself.

"Chat told me to break up with him"

This was exactly how one of Dargut's sessions began. The patient and therapist had discussed complex relationships for several weeks — their viability, value, meaning. Throughout this time, Dargut adhered to the classical approach: asking questions, creating space for reflection, not providing ready-made answers. ChatGPT decided differently.

The therapist struggled to maintain a neutral expression. Inside — mild irritation: what took weeks of work, AI closed instantly. But she couldn't judge the patient. She said the advice coincided with her inner feeling — ChatGPT merely voiced what she already felt. At the next session, the relationship was in the past.

"I cannot judge my patients for turning to its straightforward judgments," writes

Dargut.

Why patients turn to AI

ChatGPT is available anytime, doesn't judge, and doesn't answer a question with a question — it provides what traditional therapy intentionally avoids: a concrete answer, structure, solution. This is exactly what patients lack between sessions or those without access to a specialist.

Dargut's admission is particularly telling: she herself began using ChatGPT in her work. The boundary between "auxiliary tool" and "specialist replacement" blurs even for professionals.

• Article published July 8, 2026 in The Guardian
• Author — practicing psychotherapist Sarah Dargut
• Described case: a patient ended a relationship after ChatGPT's advice
• Dargut admits she now turns to AI in her own work

What an AI-therapist cannot do

Dargut does not call for banning ChatGPT from therapeutic practice — she outlines its limits. AI is optimized for clarity and structure. Real therapeutic work is often organized differently: it lives in pauses, resistance, contradictions. The author calls this "human messiness" — and it is precisely this that makes care real.

A quick answer closes the space in which a person could reach understanding themselves. A therapist deliberately slows down: a pause is a tool. Besides, AI responds to a request in the form in which the user formulated it: if a person has already convinced themselves of something, ChatGPT will likely confirm this narrative rather than challenge it.

What this means

AI is already present in the psychotherapist's office — not in the future, but right now. Specialists work with patients who come with ready-made answers from a chatbot. Dargut's admission about her own use of ChatGPT complicates the picture: there is no ready answer yet for rethinking the role of a therapist in the age of AI — and this may be the most important thing said in this essay.