Faced with rising costs and long waitlists, Gen Z Australians are turning to cheaper alternatives to conventional therapy.
In recent years, there has been a dramatic rise in young people using tools like ChatGPT to confide in about their mental health struggles.
ChatGPT is typically used for productivity tasks like drafting emails, helping with schoolwork, or answering questions — but more young Australians are now using it to talk through personal issues, seek comfort, or simulate therapy-like conversations.
Data collected by Elfsight in 2024 shows that of the platforms 400 million users, 12 per cent turn to the chatbot for emotional guidance.
Source: Elfsight 2024
Psychology student Cassandra Dalmas empathises with people who may see this as their only option but isn’t confident in AI’s effectiveness to resolve issues of this nature.
“Look, it’s obviously not a replacement for the real thing,” Ms Dalmas said.
“I do understand why people would reach for something like ChatGPT,
some people find it daunting to reach out to psychologists, or they find it’s just too expensive.”
Source: The Guardian
According to the Australian Psychological Society (APS) the average cost for a 46-60 minute psychologist session is $300.
Mental health care plans can be offered to individuals seeking help from a mental health care professional which results in rebates on sessions, typically this can only be used on 10 sessions per calendar year.
Ms Dalmas said ChatGPT not an effective alternative to traditional therapy and it can even be dangerous, especially to young people experiencing severe mental turmoil.
“ChatGPT’s responses can be predicted by the individual using ChatGPT based off the questions/ prompts they ask it,” she said.
“This makes it difficult for ChatGPT to respond in emergency situations as clinical judgement cannot be applied, which puts individuals in a dangerous situation.”
King’s College London Head of mental health and psychological sciences Professor Dame Til Wykes told The Guardian chatbots are not yet reliable.
“I think AI is not at the level where it can provide nuance and it might actually suggest courses of action that are totally inappropriate,” she said.
For now, AI chatbots might feel like the easiest option, especially for young people who can not afford professional health care or who find themselves on lengthy waitlists.
