Everywhere you look right now, there’s an app or chatbot offering to improve your mental health. Daily mood trackers. Meditation reminders. Even AI “therapists” promising 24/7 support in your pocket. And I get the appeal: it’s immediate, it’s private, and sometimes, it even helps.
But here’s the truth—AI can’t replace the kind of healing that happens in a real therapeutic relationship.
What AI and Apps Can Do
-Help you notice patterns: Maybe you see that your anxiety spikes every Sunday night before work.
- Give quick tools: Breathing exercises, grounding reminders, short meditations.
- Offer accessibility: You can pull out your phone at midnight when your therapist is not going to return a text.
These tools are useful. They can complement therapy in the same way vitamins can complement a balanced meal.
What AI and Apps Can’t Do
- Hold relational depth: Healing trauma isn’t just about a script of coping skills—it’s about being seen, understood, and safe with another person.
- Notice your nervous system cues: A chatbot can’t catch the way your body tenses when you talk about your dad, or how your voice shakes when you’re holding back tears.
- Adapt to your unique story: AI pulls from databases. Therapy draws from your lived experience, your history, your context—and my presence with you in real time.
The Future Is Both/And
I’m not anti-tech. In fact, I encourage my clients to use journaling apps, meditation tools, or even AI reminders as part of their healing. But I see them as supplements—not substitutes.
Therapy is where you bring the insights you’ve noticed in your apps and actually process them with another human being. That’s where the shift happens: when someone sits with you, helps regulate your nervous system, and guides you through the old patterns holding you back.
If You’re Curious
If you’ve been leaning on tech and still feel like something’s missing, that’s normal. Real healing often requires real connection. Therapy is where we slow down, notice what’s underneath, and create space for lasting change.
If you’re ready to go deeper than the apps can take you, I offer both virtual and in-person sessions in West Los Angeles.