When Clients Use AI Instead of Therapy | Yoga Training for Therapists

When Your Clients Are Using AI as Their Therapist

I was watching a reality show last night. Don't judge me, we all need a break from the heavy lifting! ;) One of the men in the show was talking about his "therapist" and what his "therapist" pointed out. He later revealed that it was ChatGPT, and that was his only therapist.

This is happening whether we talk about it or not. Harvard University published research showing "Therapy and Companionship" had become the #1 use case for generative AI.

Clients are using ChatGPT and other AI tools to think through problems, regulate emotions, rehearse conversations, and sometimes to get reassurance late at night when no one else is available. Some folks will mention it casually to (you) their therapist. Others never bring it up. And a number of folks feel embarrassed about it, like they’re doing something wrong or like somehow their therapists will think it means therapy isn’t working or be upset.

I don’t think silence helps here. I'm a big fan of normalizing it with your clients so they can be vulnerable with you about it. A lot of good can come out of being open about this, just as we've seen a lot of horrible things can happen when folks don't reveal they are using it for mental health and/or companionship.

In fact, I think inviting the conversation into the therapy room may be one of the most important things we can do right now.

As someone who has spent years teaching yoga training for therapists and mental health professionals, I see this shift toward AI not as a threat—but as a moment to clarify what embodied, human-centered therapy actually offers.

Why Clients Turn to AI

Most clients aren’t using AI because they want to replace therapy. The research shows they’re using it because it’s always there, 24/7. It responds immediately. It doesn’t feel like a burden. And for many people, it helps organize thoughts they don’t yet know how to say out loud.

In that sense, AI often functions as a kind of bridge — between overwhelm and articulation, between isolation and connection. That doesn’t make it therapy, but it does mean it’s serving a purpose.

And as you know, when something is serving a purpose for your client, it's best to approach with curiosity rather than judgment.

What AI Can’t Do — and Why That Still Matters

AI can reflect language, identify patterns, and offer insight and ideas. Yet it doesn’t have a nervous system to help co-regulate your clients.

It can’t feel the shift in a client’s breath, or notice when their shoulders tighten as they talk about something “that’s no big deal” or sense when someone is dissociating, bracing, or overriding themselves.

This is where human therapy still lives — and where holistic, embodied training becomes essential. At Clinical Yoga Institute, our holistic training for therapists goes beyond information-sharing that AI provides. We teach clinicians how to work with physiology, nervous system cues, posture, breath, and pacing—things clients can’t prompt an AI to notice because they live beneath conscious awareness.

We know that regulation happens not through insight alone, but through somatic rhythm, and relationship. These are not things clients can prompt ChatGPT for — because they don’t yet have language for them. And that’s exactly why the work matters.

Why Avoiding the Topic Creates Problems

When therapists avoid talking about AI, clients usually draw their own conclusions. They may assume it’s not ok, or it means something is wrong with using it and they may be judged. They keep parts of their process outside the room.

But when a therapist brings it up calmly and without judgement, something often shifts. Shame drops, honesty increases, and therapy stays relational instead of competitive.

Language You Can Use in Session

Here are a few simple, non-defensive ways therapists can open the conversation:

“A lot of people are using AI tools to think things through lately. Is that part of your process at all?”

“I’m curious — what feels helpful about using ChatGPT for you?”

“Are there things you talk about there that feel harder to bring in here?”

“What do you notice is different when you talk something through with me versus with AI?”

“Would it be useful to bring anything you’ve explored there into our work together?”

And for clients who already use AI regularly, you can even invite collaboration by saying: “Try asking your AI what a human therapist could help you with that it can’t — and we can talk about that here.”

That question alone often opens something important.

Keeping Therapy Human

This doesn’t have to be an either/or conversation. AI can help clients organize thoughts. Therapy helps clients feel what’s happening in their bodies, in relationship, in real time with somatic support that AI will never even notice is needed.

When we welcome the conversation instead of avoiding it, we reduce shame, keep clients engaged, and remind them — gently — why human presence still matters.

The goal isn’t to compete with this technology. It’s to stay human in the middle of it.

And that’s something no algorithm can replace.