To mark World Mental Health Day (Oct 10), AsiaOne looks at how everyday Singaporeans cope with mental health issues in their lives.
When people are facing mental health struggles, most would think that they’d confide in someone they trust or turn to the professionals for help.
With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more prominent in our lives, however, some people are using AI chatbots as an avenue to vent their feelings or even to get advice on what’s troubling them.
For Shireen (not her real name), confiding in an AI chatbot is how she sorts through her thoughts and feelings — oftentimes before she approaches somebody else.
Speaking to AsiaOne, the 22-year-old business management student said that the chatbot she uses can provide her with an “objective and unbiased” perspective.
“If I go to my friends, they might side with me out of loyalty or obligation. But the AI chatbot doesn’t do that. If I’m wrong about something, it tells me,” she said.
“It also helps me navigate what happened and reflect on what I can do next. For example, if I have a disagreement with a friend and my feelings are badly hurt, talking to the AI chatbot can help me pinpoint what upset me and how to resolve the issue.”
“Instead of confronting my friend while my thoughts and emotions are a mess, I can express myself clearly after going through what happened with the AI chatbot,” she explained.
And it appears that Shireen is not the only one who feels this way.
AsiaOne conducted an audience poll from May 15 to June 18 on their outlook on mental health in Singapore. The poll garnered 1,007 respondents.
Close to half (47 per cent) of the respondents were struggling with mental health conditions, having faced difficulties coping or experienced symptoms sometimes or often in the past six months. The remainder were either coping well or rarely experienced difficulties or symptoms.
Among respondents who sometimes or often faced difficulties coping — or experienced symptoms — talking to AI chatbots was fourth most selected option, below talking to close friends (34 per cent), a mental health professional (26 per cent) and their spouse (21 per cent).
Additionally, close to one in five respondents said that they are not comfortable talking to anyone about their concerns.
AI chatbots ‘just tools’
Shireen, however, also made sure that an AI chatbot is not the only outlet for her to talk about her mental health struggles.
“At the end of the day, AI and these chatbots are just tools. They can’t provide us with the empathy and connection that humans can — even if they’re really good at mimicking it,” she told us.
“I always make it a point to talk to someone else even after consulting an AI chatbot, whether it be a close friend or family member.”
Shireen admitted that there have been times where she felt as though the AI chatbot she uses had “comforted” her and “talked her down” while she was emotional, but she consciously reminded herself that it was not a real person.
“I have seen cases where people rely on AI too much and make questionable decisions because of it — I don’t want to become that,” she said.
AsiaOne’s survey also found that there was a large gap between the proportion of male (27 per cent) and female respondents (44 per cent) who feel comfortable confiding in close friends about mental health-related matters.
Women are also more open to talking to AI chatbots than men, with 23 per cent of female respondents stating that they are willing to do so as compared to 17 per cent of their male counterparts.
Moreover, people who face difficulties in their lives are more likely than their counterparts who don’t really struggle mentally to turn to AI or to no one.
20 per cent of respondents who said they struggle with their mental health indicated that they would talk to an AI chatbot about it, compared to 15 per cent among those who do not or rarely have mental health struggles.
Additionally, 18 per cent of those who face more difficulties said they do not feel comfortable confiding in anyone while 10 per cent of those who do not struggle with their mental health said they would do the same if they were to experience mental health issues.
AI chatbots may create echo chamber if misused: Expert
AI is becoming increasingly visible in mental health discussions, research and the ways people seek support.
Dr Annabelle Chow, clinical psychologist at Annabelle Psychology, has seen an increasing number of clients who have explored their concerns with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
“Some have even produced AI chat logs to me, requested for clinical treatment based on such chats, and we have had conversations around it,” she told AsiaOne.
While Dr Annabelle feels that AI chatbots can be useful as a starting point for finding general information or organising one’s thoughts, she warned that they may provide inaccurate information, misrepresent studies or generate sources that do not exist.
Any clinical or research-based claims should be checked against the original source, she said.
When asked if she foresees any issues which may arise due to the increased use of AI in the mental health space, Dr Annabelle said one concern is that some chatbots are agreeable by design and might validate the user’s opinion without questioning it.
“This can create an echo chamber that reinforces unhelpful thinking or intensifies existing fears, particularly when someone is highly distressed or experiencing paranoia,” she explained.
The clinical psychologist also pointed out the risk of vulnerable people developing an emotional dependency on an AI chatbot if it begins to replace human relationships or professional support.
This could deepen isolation and make it harder for someone to seek help from people who can understand their circumstances, notice changes in their well-being and respond when something is wrong, she said.
Dr Annabelle also referenced cases of people experiencing “AI psychosis” from extended use of AI, but stressed that the term is not a formal psychiatric diagnosis and AI use alone should not be assumed to cause psychosis.
“The concern however, is that prolonged interactions may contribute to or reinforce delusional or paranoid beliefs in someone who is already vulnerable,” she said.
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Other online avenues for help
As more teenagers and young adults in Singapore turn to online resources for counselling and mental health support, the government is encouraging the use of official tools such as mindline.sg.
This platform offers easy access to self-care resources, self-assessment tools, digital therapeutic exercises, an AI-powered chatbot, a 24/7 text helpline service, a peer support forum, and even professional help — all while allowing the user to stay anonymous.
Mindline.sg was launched in June 2020 by the Ministry of Health Office for Healthcare Transformation, Institute for Mental Health, Ministry of Social and Family Development, and National Council of Social Service.
Answering a parliamentary question on the increased use of AI chatbots for mental health-related matters in February, health minister Ong Ye Kung said that people seek out these chatbots because of the anonymity they offer and because they are easily available and accessible around the clock.
He then listed local, reliable alternative avenues for mental health services such as mindline.sg, Community Outreach Teams and CHAT (for those aged 16 to 30).
“We put forth these resources so that… those seeking the same advantages of anonymity and easy accessibility can now go to a legitimate source to get the same kind of services,” he explained.
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At AsiaOne, communications is both an art and a science. We conduct polls 24/7 to understand our users’ perception and opinions towards social issues, as well as their consumer preferences.
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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com
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