Convenience therapy and quick fixes can be harmful to health | Letters

People seek therapy because they want deeper connections. More emotional intimacy. They want to learn how to do this and overcome behaviors that stand in their way. They intuitively feel that a closer relationship will bring them greater fulfillment, greater well-being, and greater satisfaction. And they are right.

People who have authentic relationships are happier than those who don’t. And there is evidence that authentic relationships protect our mental health. But can you learn to be authentic and really interact from an artificial intelligence bot (“He checks in on me more than my Friends and Family”: Can AI therapists do better than the real thing?, March 2) ?

AI may be able to tell you what steps to take to form more authentic relationships with others. But can it teach you how to show people the real you? Will it encourage you to share how you really feel? Will it help you realize that you are not flawed and that you are loved just the way you are? Can we figure out that convenience therapy is as bad for us as convenience food?
Doctor Naomi Murphy
Clinical and forensic psychologist

See your article on psychotherapy (No, it’s not all your mother’s fault! And 10 other myths about going to therapy, debunked, March 2), although an analytical approach will not be useful or accessible to everyone in the longer term, there are many people for whom lasting psychological change can only occur in the context of a therapeutic relationship that lasts years, not months. The statement “good therapy must be time-limited” is wrong – and potentially harmful to patients who need help but have internalized the depressingly widespread idea that needing long-term help is shameful or a sign of unforgivable weakness.

No wonder people are turning to AI therapists and other apparent “quick fixes” instead of seeking a connection with someone else who might understand them. What your article inadvertently reveals is how afraid we are of our own weakness and dependence on others. Whatever “good therapy” may be, it is not something that facilitates the denial of these uncomfortable truths.
Lydia Prior
Psychodynamic psychotherapist

After 24 years as a practicing hypnotherapist and trainer, I am shocked that anyone would need to see a therapist long-term. Surely the idea of ​​therapy is to quickly gain insight into your behavior, and the therapist guides you toward change. My training has taught me to give the client independence. We should never have to rely on long-term weekly sessions to cope with life. Hypnotherapy and neurolinguistic programming have proven that shorter sessions can make big differences in the way people think, feel and behave.
Joy Gower
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

I read Morwenna Ferrier’s article with interest (I saw my therapist every week for two years. Then he let slip that he had been looking at me. Had he crossed a line?, March 3). Forty years ago, much to my surprise, my therapist declared that he had fallen in love with me and believed it was mutual. It wasn’t. He shared the same name as someone I was interested in. But that is an other story.

I was surprised that Morwenna’s new therapist told her that James “could lose his license.” Maybe he was medically qualified and this is what she meant. However, in Great Britain anyone can establish themselves as a ‘therapist’. So it is important to check that they are registered with the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy or similar recognized organisations. It is also important to know that if you are unhappy with your counselor, you can change, as Morwenna did.
Barbara Kaij
Wallasey, Merseyside