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Innovations in Mental Health Systems (520) Chatbots and Conversational Agents (809) Artificial Intelligence (2469) Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing for Public Health (106) AI-Powered Therapy Bots and Virtual Companions in Digital Mental Health (36)

Published on in Vol 12 (2025)

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/69709, first published .
Man with hand on forehead looking at a tablet, conveying digital overload.

A Comparison of Responses from Human Therapists and Large Language Model–Based Chatbots to Assess Therapeutic Communication: Mixed Methods Study

A Comparison of Responses from Human Therapists and Large Language Model–Based Chatbots to Assess Therapeutic Communication: Mixed Methods Study

Authors of this article:

Till Scholich1 Author Orcid Image ;   Maya Barr2 Author Orcid Image ;   Shannon Wiltsey Stirman3, 4 Author Orcid Image ;   Shriti Raj1, 5 Author Orcid Image
Article Authors Cited by (25) Tweetations (7) Metrics

Journals

  1. Kabrel N. When can AI psychotherapy be considered comparable to human psychotherapy? Exploring the criteria. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2025;16 View
  2. Srivastava M. Nurses at the crossroads: ethical dilemmas in maintaining dignity in mental health care. Advances in Mental Health 2025:1 View
  3. Howcroft A, Blake H. Empathy by Design: Reframing the Empathy Gap Between AI and Humans in Mental Health Chatbots. Information 2025;16(12):1074 View
  4. Du Q, Ren Y, Meng Z, He H, Meng S. The Efficacy of Rule-Based Versus Large Language Model-Based Chatbots in Alleviating Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2025;27:e78186 View
  5. Jalali S, You Q, Xu V, Chen L, Zini J, Zamorano T, Luo Y, Friesen T, Fontana G, Benrimoh D. The Use of Artificial Intelligence for Personalized Treatment in Psychiatry. Current Psychiatry Reports 2025;28(1) View
  6. Andrisano Ruggieri R, Ragosta A, Fornaciari T. The uncanny setting: therapeutic chatbots and the dissolution of the symbolic function in the clinical relationship. Psychodynamic Practice 2025:1 View
  7. Jin Z, Hu J, Bi D, Zhao K, Yu H. Evaluating the Efficacy of AI-Based Interactive Assessments Using Large Language Models for Depression Screening: Development and Usability Study. JMIR Formative Research 2026;10:e78401 View
  8. Voultsiou E, Moussiades L. A Systematic Review of Large Language Models in Mental Health: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions. Electronics 2026;15(3):524 View
  9. Chen Y, Gao Y, Yu S, Zhao C, Lu Y. Large Language Models in Mental Health: A Systematic Review of Applications, Innovations and Ethical Challenges. Journal of Industrial Integration and Management 2026:1 View
  10. Balcombe L. Digital Mental Health Post COVID-19: The Era of AI Chatbots. Encyclopedia 2026;6(2):32 View
  11. Rollwage M, McFadyen J, Juchems K, Balogh A, Pisupati S, Mircea M, Hauser T, Prichard G, Harper R. A cognitive layer architecture to support large-language model performance in psychotherapy interactions. Nature Medicine 2026;32(5):1717 View
  12. Hadar Shoval D, Haber Y, Refoua E, Elyoseph Z, Yirmiya K, Yinon D. Algorithmic Witnessing: A Narrative Review and the AI CARE Framework for Trauma Testimony. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 2026 View
  13. Ngoc Nguyen Teichmann A, Xing J. Ethical Challenges in Deploying Large Language Model Chatbots for LGBTQ2+ Mental Health Support. Canadian Journal of Bioethics 2026;9(2):155 View
  14. Szoke D, Hutzler I, Liu J, Addante S, Akhtar Z, Smith D, Dickins K, Small C, Pridgen S, Held P. Automated Safety Testing and Reporting Application for Conversational Safety Monitoring of Generative AI Tools for Mental Health: Development and Validation Study. JMIR Mental Health 2026;13:e91367 View
  15. Izquierdo-Condoy J, Paz C, Busch F, Ortiz-Prado E. Generative Artificial Intelligence as a Psychological Intervention: Between Illusion and Risk. Journal of Medical Systems 2026;50(1) View
  16. You D, Monteiro D, Seo K. LLM-based chatbots for academic stress counseling: comparing Socratic and Didactic styles in fostering stress reduction and therapeutic alliance. Interactive Learning Environments 2026:1 View
  17. Shankar R, Lim A, Xu Q. Barriers and Facilitators to the Use of Large Language Model-Based Conversational Agents in Mental Healthcare: A Systematic Review. Healthcare 2026;14(10):1267 View
  18. Liu C, Wu J, Zhao A, Wang L, Yip T. The evaluation of AI companions relative to family, friends, and mental health professionals among young adults: The role of social support and AI beliefs. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans 2026;8:100316 View
  19. Refoua E, Gigi K, Levkovich I, Hadar Shoval D, Elyoseph Z, Tsafrir I, Pen O, Angert T, Haber Y. Generative AI as a de facto mental health provider: a policy brief and urgent call for regulation. Frontiers in Digital Health 2026;8 View
  20. Meywirth S, Janson A, Söllner M. Do human trust models transfer to AI? a necessary condition analysis of interpersonal trust antecedents in large language model-based coaching. Behaviour & Information Technology 2026:1 View
  21. Sawesi S, Sabbineni H, Shagamreddy R, Rashrash B. Cybersecurity and Privacy Risks of Generative AI Mental-Health Chatbots: A Systematic Review and Regulatory Framework. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare 2026;Volume 19:1 View

Books/Policy Documents

  1. Vesterinen T. Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. View

Conference Proceedings

  1. Yadav S, Sam A, Jitto J, L J. 2026 9th International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Data Science (ICCIDS). Agentic AI for Therapy View
  2. Cooper N, Guridi J, Hwang A, Kolko B, McGinty E, Yang Q. Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Framing Responsible Design of AI for Mental Well-Being: AI as Primary Care, Nutritional Supplement, or Yoga Instructor? View
  3. Xue B, Ono G, Yoshida T, Hu Y, Narumi T. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. The You You Are: A Payphone Installation for Parallel-Self Dialogue Enabled by Voice Cloning View