I have a confession. I did something that many medical and mental health professionals do in their private lives, but rarely admit publicly. I ignored my own advice. Even though I have literally published a book with chapters warning people against the perils of self-diagnosis, I recently diagnosed myself and turned to artificial intelligence for treatment. What happened next really surprised me. As I’ve reflected on the experience, I think it’s vital to speak publicly about what happened, especially given the recent news that U.S. health officials are piloting AI to provide psychotherapy.
Earlier this year, I was assaulted. Afterward, I believe I was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. I couldn’t stop ruminating. I had feelings of self-blame and horrible insomnia. When I did sleep, I had nightmares. As a licensed and practicing psychotherapist, I knew it would be helpful to seek mental health treatment, but I just didn’t want to do that. Quality psychotherapy is expensive and time-consuming, so I kept putting it off.
One night, as I waited for sleep I knew would never come, I impulsively opened my laptop and told Claude Fable 5.0 everything. I brain-dumped the whole timeline of events, shared screenshots of relevant material from my phone, and asked if it agreed that my distress could best be described as PTSD. While it gave me a familiar disclaimer that it could not technically diagnose me, it implied that my self-assessment was correct. I asked what type of treatment I should seek out and it suggested cognitive processing therapy, otherwise known as CPT.
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