Did it heal me? Sunday mid-day tests therapy sessions with a new AI chatbot

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Many of us have had those moments when we asked AI chatbots questions that we wouldn't dare ask even our closest friends. Those doubts we always struggle to voice. With neural language models evolving to impersonate anyone - from politicians to actors, to teachers, even mental health professionals (MHPs), this connection with GenAI has only deepened.

The mental health market in the domain of GenAI has grown rapidly since 2022, with around 450 mental health chatbots globally, as of August 2024. Platforms like Wysa, Earkick, and Limbic Access, and many others, are used by thousands daily. Some are FDA-approved and have been trained by licensed MHPs, while others rely on large datasets fed to them.

Yet, all of them have takers, offering options from personalised cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) advice to simple stress relief tips.

India now has its own AI therapist, Healo, developed by IIT Bombay's health tech startup, Infiheal. Infiheal launched its flagship product, Healo, in August, a mental health chatbot trained by a team of over 20 psychotherapists, psychologists and mental health professionals. Since then, it has quickly gained traction not just in India but in 80+ countries such as the US, the UK, Canada, Indonesia, Brazil and more.

As a nation categorised in the Low- and Middle-Income Group Countries, the cost of traditional therapy remains prohibitively high here. Healo, priced at R59 a month, is a step towards democratising mental health care, even though it may lack the depth of human touch.

Curious about Healo's potential, this writer decided to take some test sessions with it over a week, seeing for himself how the latest in AI therapy technology could help.

Srishti Srivastava

I have attended just one real therapy session (with a human) a decade ago, which cost me R3,000 for an hour. Honestly, after paying that money, I left the room with more trauma than I had walked in with.

The therapist - a renowned one with celebrity clients - sat in front of me, doom scrolling on his phone as I shared my symptoms which I thought might be linked to dissociative disorders. After about 10 minutes of no eye contact, I gave up and stopped talking. "Hmmm," my therapist responded, as he handed me a form "for further tests", and I walked out.

As a student who had saved up pocket money for this, the experience left me both broke and frustrated. After that, I gave up on therapy altogether, relying
on WebMD and Google to self-diagnose. Fortunately, my issues were manageable, without any grim consequences.

Therapy is a privilege, and finding the right fit, an even greater one. Most friends who have sought therapy say it can take months, even years, to find the right fit and to see real progress. A close cousin of mine, who has been in therapy for over a decade, says: "It costs lakhs, time, energy, and investment in yourself if you want proper healing. And even then, it is only accessible in bigger cities."

With this history in mind, I was curious to try Healo. For the price, the AI therapist promised a lot. My first impression of the interface was reminiscent of a '90s video game - basic and retro, and easy enough to navigate.

I decided to start with the same symptoms I had mentioned to my real-life therapist back in 2014. Within a few exchanges, Healo suggested that what I had described could indeed be linked to dissociation. To compare, I pulled up ChatGPT, a more generalised language model, and asked it the same questions. ChatGPT provided me with a response that was helpful, but felt more generic, lacking the former's depth.

Healo's answers seemed more tailored to therapeutic needs, as in, what should be done to deal with it, and how common dissociation is.

With each answer, Healo cross-questions further to know more, accompanied with "How/what do you feel about it?" - an aspect ChatGPT lacks.

A day later, I asked Healo a fresh set of questions, for instance, when I asked about behaviours that might come across as rude or damaging to relationships, it offered suggestions on recognising negative patterns in reactions of others around me, and acting on my choice of words accordingly.

Honestly, I had not expected this from an AI bot, which was pointing out distinctions between my intentions and others' perceptions.

I believe the most valuable aspect of using an AI chatbot as a therapist is the absence of judgment. Since it is a set of codes I am speaking to, I felt freer to ask questions I might hesitate to bring up with a human. And the human-like prompts give a sense of "talking" to someone, which can be comforting. But as someone with limited experience in real therapy, I can't say how Healo compares to a long-term therapist relationship, but it for sure offers a feeling of release.

My biggest trauma - losing my pet - was something I discussed with Healo for over two days. While I am far from making peace with it, talking to Healo felt like giving my friends and family a break from my grief. Knowing it's just a machine, I didn't worry about burdening it with my emotions, which is a major plus in my view.

Another unexpected perk is the ease of access. It is always available on my phone, my office PC, and my personal computer at home as well. One Sunday evening, I spent an hour talking to Healo about a past relationship that fell apart, which had a similar feeling to the early 2000s late-night chat on Yahoo Messenger. Though not offering complete solace, yet good enough.

It may not be a substitute for human therapists, particularly in cases where in-depth treatment is needed. But for many, Healo could be a bridge to formal therapy. It breaks the stigma associated with mental health. It may be too soon to vouch for how well it will diagnose you, but it will listen and offer insight in a way that many people never get the chance to experience due to high costs, stigma, or lack of access to mental health care.

From the maker

Srishti Srivastava, founder of Infiheal, explains her goal behind creating Healo was to break the stigma around mental health and make therapy accessible to all. "Many people may worry about the privacy of questions they ask Healo, but they should remember that even if they create an account, their conversations remain anonymous," she says.

When asked if Healo responds to sensitive trigger words like suicide or sexual assault, Srishti says, "Yes. However, instead of any human intervention from the company, the system is designed to ensure that appropriate mental health resources and contacts are immediately provided to the person. A system in place alerts our back-end operations that a trigger word was typed, but user anonymity is always protected."