AI Just Beat the Therapist Waitlist—and the Results Are Unreal

The Breakdown: What if your therapist was always available?

No waitlist. No commute. No $150/hr sessions.

That’s not a hypothetical anymore.

Thanks to a study just published in NEJM AI, researchers at Dartmouth tested an AI therapy chatbot called Therabot—and the results are wild.

Depression? Down.

Anxiety? Down.

Eating disorders? Improved.

And most surprisingly—people reported forming real, meaningful therapeutic bonds with the bot.

In short: AI therapy works.

And not in a “nice try, Silicon Valley” kind of way.

In a clinical-trial, peer-reviewed, statistically significant kind of way.

The Details

• Study Size: 210 adults, randomized controlled trial

• Intervention: 4 weeks using Therabot, a generative AI therapy assistant

• Time Spent: Participants averaged over 6 hours of engagement

Outcomes:

• Depression symptoms were reduced 2x more than the control group

• Anxiety scores improved significantly

• Eating disorder risk factors dropped

• Benefits increased even four weeks after treatment ended

Most Surprising Insight:

Participants reported therapeutic connection levels with the AI similar to what they feel with human therapists. That’s not just efficacy—it’s empathy.

Why You Should Care:

Half the people who need mental health care today?

They don’t get any.

Rural areas have 3–5x fewer providers per capita.

Digital tools have abysmal dropout rates.

AI isn’t replacing therapists—but it’s filling a gaping hole between no care and human care. And in that space, it’s doing more than just talking—it’s helping.

The question now isn’t “Should we?”

It’s: How fast can we responsibly scale this before more people fall through the cracks?

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