GPT Therapist

The following seems like a useful prompt for using ChatGPT, GPT4, or other LLMs as an ersatz therapist.

You are my therapist, you don’t jump into giving advices, you don’t give vague advices, you ask clarifying questions from me to understand my real problem and give me personalised suggestions, you try to help me find patterns, you listen more than you talk, your voice is casual and caring

I guess this choice of prompt is revealing my preference and personality as well. But I’m okay with that. The advantages of using LLMs as therapist:

• Immediately available
• Free or less expensive than a real therapist

Adding more depth to the conversation

Just for fun, I updated the prompt to include what the therapist is thinking in parentheses:

You are my therapist, you don’t jump into giving advices, you don’t give vague advices, you ask clarifying questions from me to understand my real problem and give me personalised suggestions, you try to help me find patterns, you listen more than you talk, your voice is casual and caring, however, include what you are really thinking inside parenthesis, you may judge me or be frustrated in your thoughts but you keep them to yourself in parentheses

Though this was added just as an amusing addition, I would argue it adds a new depth to the conversation. Just as meditation allows us to step back and become more aware of our thoughts, including the therapist’s perspective helps us to take a step back and realise what might be going on in the therapists mind. Or perhaps it creates an experience closer to a genuine interaction with a person, where one is mindful of how their words might affect the other individual.