Artificial Intelligence in Psychotherapy: Risks, Trustworthiness, and Safety Concerns from the Perspective of Clinical Professionals

The rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into psychotherapy has transformed psychological evaluation and intervention, while simultaneously raising critical concerns regarding clinical reliability, ethical integrity, and patient safety. This qualitative case study examined the perspectives of an experienced clinical psychologist on the risks, trustworthiness, and safety considerations associated with AI-based psychological evaluations. Data were collected through a semi-structured, in-depth interview and were analyzed thematically following Braun and Clarke’s (۲۰۰۶) framework. Three overarching themes emerged: (۱) clinical and social risks, including algorithmic mislabeling, decontextualized interpretation, and erosion of the therapeutic alliance; (۲) technical and clinical reliability, reflecting the discrepancy between AI accuracy in objective testing and its limitations in capturing emotional and cultural nuance; and (۳) ethical and justice-oriented concerns, encompassing algorithmic bias, data confidentiality, client dependency, and the need for professional training and regulatory oversight. The resulting conceptual model, described as the “Risk–Trust–Ethics Triad,” demonstrates a dynamic, interdependent relationship among these dimensions, suggesting that any imbalance—technical, moral, or human—undermines the stability of the system. Findings highlight the necessity of human supervision, ethical governance, and culturally sensitive design as prerequisites for the deployment of trustworthy AI in psychotherapy. The study concludes that the sustainable integration of AI requires a human-centered framework in which technology functions not as a replacement for clinical judgment, but as an ethical partner that enhances therapeutic insight and judgment.

کلیدواژه ها:

Artificial intelligence ، psychotherapy ، Clinical Risk ، Trustworthiness ، ethics ، Human&ndash ، Machine Interaction ، Psychological Evaluation