Generative AI and Psychotherapies Lesson
At the end of the Disorders and Therapies unit during the Spring semester of 2023, I wanted to students to gain more experience with generative AIs, which have filled the news recently and been a topic of conversation in schools — largely framed as a threat to academic integrity. My goal was two-fold: have students practice creating prompts for an AI that will elicit desired responses, and further their understanding of some psychotherapeutic models.
Based on those goals, I leveraged the ‘Sage’ model, based on ChatGPT 3.5, at Poe.com to create the linked lesson plan here.
OpenAI.com is currently blocked on campus, and so I directed students to Poe. Some downloaded the app on their iPad, others simply went directly to the web address.
Projecting my screen to the front of the room, I demonstrated how to set the context for the AI, asking it to pretend to be a clinical psychologist and asking it to talk to me about my arachnophobia. Then for 15-minutes students interacted with the AI, asking about their chosen disorder and their assigned psychotherapeutic model. Then they wrote their thoughts on a discussion board in Canvas. A few of those anonymized responses are reproduced below:
The psychotherapy technique I explored was interpersonal therapy(IPT), and this therapy is used to treat dissociative identity disorder(DID) by identifying “interpersonal problems or conflicts” that enhance the symptoms. What I found most interesting about using this therapy technique was that it seems it would actually be very effective in treating DID because it is supposed to dig deeper into a persons social life, sense of community, and past trauma. IPT’s goal is to un-weave the tensions in the brain caused by social situations, which is a huge part in what DID patients struggle with.
The psychotherapy technique I investigated was Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help support someone with antisocial personality disorder. DBT is focusing on skills training, so we would work on developing skills in the four areas of mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT would help create a stronger sense of self awareness and self confidence and learn how to navigate having anti social personality disorder. The main goal would be to help you develop the skills and tools you need to manage your symptoms, improve your relationships, and lead a more fulfilling life.
I investigated the treatment of avoidant restrictive food intake disorder using cognitive behavioral therapy. It told me that first it would identify and challenge negative thoughts that trigger ARFID behavior by examining evidence against them. It would also have you work on developing balanced and realistic thoughts. Then it would do exposure and response prevention by gradually introducing problematic foods and work with coping strategies to manage the anxiety that arises with that. Then it has you practice mindfulness techniques to reduce anxiety and symptoms. After that it has you engage in behavioral experiments to test beliefs about certain foods. After that it has you practice goal setting to be realistic in managing ARFID to build confidence and reduce reliance on avoidance behavior.
After this writing period, we circled the desks and had a general class discussion about their experience. With one class of 30 students, I started the conversation by asking “to what degree was this different from talking to your dog?” This conversation went… Okay. It wasn’t great but it was still a good conversation. With my second class, I asked: “What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a generative AI for psychotherapy?” And students in this class period did an excellent job of identifying a short list of advantages (such as accessibility, affordability, and anonymity) and disadvantages (such as lack of human interaction, limited understanding of complex human emotions, and lack of flexibility in responding to specific issues “the client” brought up.)
All in all, this new lesson worked well for accomplishing my two goals — only one of which was specifically associated with the explicit curriculum of the course.