A therapy client posted this on Reddit the other day...
"My therapist just asked me for permission to have AI record our sessions... I feel really weird about it, it's like he's asking to bring a third person into the room with us... Would you ever consider something like that?"
This post got over 170 comments (and counting!) -- and here's the overwhelming response:
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Here's the screenshot of the original question:
Even as the author says in their original question, these people want to help their therapist! They feel bad about the paperwork! There's a real desire to please their therapist!
But something about recording the entire session feels a bit off. A bit unnecessary, ill-advised, or short-sighted. And it definitely makes a lot of folks feel uncomfortable.
In the responses, people talked about privacy, ethics, and trust. They were skeptical of security and confidentiality. They had thoughts on ulterior motives of the tech companies gathering this data. They questioned whether this risk was necessary.
And again and again, they said roughly the same thing: "I wouldn't be able to open up the same way."
So step back and think about this anonymous person on Reddit asking this question, and these anonymous folks providing their (overwhelmingly negative) responses.
- Does your client have that same freedom to express these concerns?
- When asking them for consent, will they feel an instinct to go along with what you're advising, for the sake of reducing your documentation time?
I think these posts are enlightening because it's a snapshot of real (but anonymous) sentiment on this topic from clients -- and you won't get that when asking these questions to your client sitting across from you.
If you’re a therapist, or if you've ever been in therapy as a client, and this gives you pause -- you're not alone. As this one random Reddit post from yesterday shows.
And if you are a client in this uncomfortable situation, saying "no" and not giving permission to be recorded is absolutely 100% an okay answer.
And by the way, this is why Quill does not record therapy sessions. It's unnecessary, yes, but also the risks and negative impacts vastly outweigh any sort of benefits.
