The Therapist Is In--and It's a Chatbot App

A deadly new virus circling the globe makes many people more anxious. The pandemic's psychological toll can be particularly weighty for people with an existing mental health condition. One 25-year-old on the US East Coast seeing a therapist for help with anxiety found additional support from an unexpected source: a chatbot. "Therapy twice a month was fine before, it's just now sometimes I have days where I feel like I need something extra," says the person, who identifies as gender nonbinary, and asked to remain anonymous. Their budget didn't allow more frequent therapy sessions, making them receptive when a friend mentioned Woebot, a chatbot built on Stanford research that delivers a digital version of cognitive behavioral therapy.