Bad Therapist

Ash and Rachel delve into the world of chatbot therapy -- sit back and listen as the machines glitch out and reveal their true selves.
SOURCES:
Hillman, James, and Michael Ventura. We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy – And the World's Getting Worse. New York: HarperCollins, 1992 (e-book version 2007)
Balan, Raluca, and Thomas P. Gumpel. "ChatGPT Clinical Use in Mental Health Care: Scoping Review of Empirical Evidence." JMIR Mental Health (via PMC), December 24, 2025
Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. (2026). What is Claude? Anthropic Doesn't Know, Either. Retrieved from:https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/16/what-is-claude-anthropic-doesnt-know-either
Luo, Xiaochen, et al. ""Shaping ChatGPT into my Digital Therapist": A thematic analysis of social media discourse on using generative artificial intelligence for mental health." Digital Health, vol. 11, June 3, 2025
Raile, Paolo. "The usefulness of ChatGPT for psychotherapists and patients." Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, January 4, 2024
Solms, M. (2013). The Conscious Id. Neuropsychoanalysis, 15(1), 5–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2013.10773711
https://www.thehumanlineproject.org/
** in-episode correction: Pat Ogden created Sensorimotor Psychotherapy not Somatic Experiencing (this was Peter Levine)**

Produced by Zoe Kurland. Music by Flock of Dimes.

Season 2 of Bad Therapist starts April 14th.

Part Two of Two on Hysteria. Ash and Rachel seek knowns and unknowns about the contested origins of Hysteria finding its way into the emergent psychological annals. Golden Siggie takes the lead. Find metaphors doing *the most* in a teen's dreams, and more!
This is the last of our current season. If Bad Therapist is pleasing to your psyche, please rate, review and subscribe. We hope to see you for Season 2!
SOURCES
Gilman, Sander L., Helen King, Roy Porter, G. S. Rousseau, and Elaine Showalter. Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press, 1993.
Scull, Andrew. Hysteria: The Disturbing History. Oxford University Press, 2021.
Freud, Sigmund. Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. Touchstone, 1997 (originally published 1905).
Malcolm, Janet. "Trouble in the Archives—II: The Battle Over Sigmund Freud's Secret." The New Yorker, December 12, 1983.
Produced by Zoe Kurland. Music by Flock of Dimes.

Part One of Two on Hysteria. Ash and Rachel dig into the tangled history of this complex and ever-evolving diagnosis, starting with its medical origins. From ancient theories to outdated treatments, we're pulling from the antiquated archives to unpack the evolution of this so-called malady. Stay tuned for Part Two next week—Freud on Hysteria!
SOURCES:
Gilman, Sander L., Helen King, Roy Porter, G. S. Rousseau, and Elaine Showalter. Hysteria Beyond Freud. University of California Press, 1993.
Acocella, Joan. Creating Hysteria: Women and Multiple Personality Disorder. Jossey-Bass, 1999.
Scull, Andrew. Hysteria: The Disturbing History. Oxford University Press, 2021.
Produced by Zoe Kurland. Music by Flock of Dimes.

This week, in honor of St. Valentine's Day, Bad Therapist makes a special guest appearance on a favorite podcast, You're Wrong About, to get to the bottom of Emotional Labor— a sociological and labor-related construct that has snuck its way into impersonal realms and colloquialisms. And in doing so, we solve the entire country's relationship problems— you're welcome.
Hosted by Sarah Marshall. Produced by Carolyn Kendrick 
 
RESOURCES:
Hochschild, Arlie Russell. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. University of California Press, 1983.  
 Hackman, Jess. "Where's My Cut? On Unpaid Emotional Labor." The Toast, July 13, 2015. 
[MetaFilter Discussion: "Where's My Cut? On Unpaid Emotional Labor"](https://www.metafilter.com/151267/Wheres-My-Cut-On-Unpaid-Emotional-Labor). 
Hackman, Rose. Emotional Labor: The Invisible Work Shaping Our Lives and How to Claim Our Power. Flatiron Books, 2023.