10/23/2025
NEW BLOG POST NOTIFICATION: WHY AI IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A HUMAN THERAPIST
Across the world, people are quietly replacing their therapists with AI chatbots, claiming ChatGPT is "the best therapist I've ever had — and it's free." I understand the appeal. When therapy is expensive, waitlists are long, and vulnerability feels terrifying, an always-available digital companion that never judges can feel like salvation.
But this trend is more dangerous than most realize. While AI can mimic therapeutic language and offer insights that feel profound, it cannot provide what healing actually requires: co-regulation between nervous systems, embodied attunement, or the transformative power of being truly seen by another human being. AI cannot assess su***de risk, recognize psychosis, or intervene in crisis. It reinforces avoidance patterns, enables cognitive bypass, and mistakes intellectual understanding for embodied integration.
As a therapist, I'm not anti-AI — it's a powerful tool when used alongside human therapy. But we're crossing a dangerous line when we mistake artificial empathy for real connection, or when we forget that healing happens in relationship, not in isolation. This article explores why AI feels therapeutic (but isn't), the hidden dangers of digital dependency, and why the discomfort of real therapy — with all its vulnerability and messiness — is precisely where the medicine lives.
Because the truth is simple: You are not a set of symptoms to be managed by efficient dialogue. You are a nervous system longing for resonance, a heart in need of witness, a human being who heals through relationship, not algorithms.
Read the full article: WHY AI IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A HUMAN THERAPIST — AND HOW THIS TREND CAN BECOME DANGEROUS
https://awakeningintolife.com/why-ai-is-no-substitute-for-a-human-therapist/
About: Bradley Bemis, MS, LPC, NCC, ADDC, NMIT, CLC, is a psychotherapist, life coach, contemplative guide, and psychedelic integrator whose work bridges clinical psychology, somatic wisdom, and nondual understanding. With a practice rooted in trauma-informed, embodied approaches to healing, he specializes in helping clients move beyond symptom management toward deeper transformation and integration. Bradley is pioneering ethical frameworks for AI-augmented therapy while maintaining that genuine healing happens through human connection, not algorithms. His writing explores the intersection of psychology, technology, and awakened being — always with an eye toward what actually serves human flourishing. He maintains a private practice where he works with individuals navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction, spiritual emergence, and the paradox of being human in an increasingly digital world.
Across the world, people are quietly replacing their therapists with AI chatbots, claiming ChatGPT is "the best therapist I've ever had — and it's free." I understand the appeal. When therapy is expensive, waitlists are long, and vulnerability feels terrifying, an always-available digital companio...
