How Therapists Are Using ChatGPT to Tackle Admin Work

Earlier this year, I began exploring the use of AI and ChatGPT in mental health practice. After publishing my thoughts in an article on SimplePractice’s Pollen blog, it became clear that this is a topic of conversation the mental health community is very interested in.  

Mental health practitioners who read the article reached out to me through LinkedIn, email, and other social media platforms with follow-up questions.

“How can I use ChatGPT in my practice?”

“Could this be a helpful tool for clinicians?”

“What are the risks?”

ChatGPT, a language model trained by OpenAI, can be a game-changer in alleviating the administrative work required of clinicians. ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can tackle administrative tasks, business management, and marketing efforts for mental health practitioners. 

By January 2023, just two months after its launch, a study initially reported by Reuters found that ChatGPT was reaching an estimated 100 million monthly users. In this short time, at least 30 percent of professionals have tried using ChatGPT at work. 

If you’re wondering how ChatGPT can assist you at work as a mental health practitioner, we’ll go over some ways ChatGPT can be utilized to tackle administrative work. We’ll also examine some of ChatGPT’s potential drawbacks and how clinicians can overcome them.

Overview of ChatGPT and How it Works 

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that was launched in November 2022. It is built on OpenAI’s GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) family of large language models, which is one of the largest, most powerful language processing AI models. ChatGPT is currently free to use, with a Plus version offered for $20 per month.  

ChatGPT (GPT-3) can generate human-like responses to natural language inputs. It is pre-trained on a vast amount of text data and can be fine-tuned to specific tasks, including generating responses to customer queries, scheduling appointments, and even writing emails. 

The generative learning technology behind ChatGPT is based on deep learning algorithms, which means that it can learn from its interactions and improve its responses over time. This makes it an ideal tool for automating repetitive administrative tasks that mental health professionals often perform, such as scheduling appointments, answering common questions, sending appointment reminders, and more.

On March 14, 2023, OpenAI released GPT-4 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4). This latest model accepts images, in addition to text input, and produces text output. It has only been made publicly available by subscribing toChatGPT Plus. 

Benefits of Using ChatGPT in Mental Health 

Mental health professionals have reported positive experiences using ChatGPT, including the following:

• Improved Productivity and Reduced Costs. With its ability to generate human-like text, ChatGPT can improve productivity while reducing costs for mental health professionals who can save on staffing or outsourcing.

• Time-Saving and Increased Efficiency. ChatGPT’s ability to provide instant support and information can help practitioners complete tasks even more efficiently, freeing up time for more value-adding activities. 

• Improved Accuracy and Decision-Making. Mental health professionals can use ChatGPT to make evidence-based diagnoses and clinical decisions to inform their practice.

• Improved Client Experience and Outcomes. ChatGPT’s integration with chatbots, virtual assistants, and customer service platforms allows for prompt and customized assistance to clients, reducing wait times and improving satisfaction levels.  This, combined with the extra time afforded for client care because of ChatGPT, and improved accuracy and decision-making, lends to improved overall client outcomes.

Examples of Doctors and Mental Health Practitioners Who Use ChatGPT to Complete Administrative Work

ChatGPT can assist with writing and documentation, including drafting letters and other documents that require little editing.

Matthew Hitchcock, MD, a family doctor in Chattanooga, Tennessee, told the New York Times in June 2023 that he is using AI to help create medical notes for  treatment plans and billing.

These letters used to take Hitchcock two hours to complete on his own. However, with AI, the notes require little editing and now take only twenty minutes on average. 

If doctors are finding this type of AI assistance with note-taking helpful, it stands to reason that mental health practitioners would be able to harness these advantages as well. 

And they are.

Examples of How Mental Health Professionals Use ChatGPT

A clinical psychologist saved several hours each week by automating responses to client questions, appointment scheduling, and reminders. 

Tasks like these can be automated without help from a  developer. Instead, the psychologist can use the popular online automation tool that connects apps called Zapier. It is possible to connect your Google Calendar and other apps to OpenAI (GPT-3) in just a few minutes using this tool.  

A licensed professional counselor working in private practice has found ChatGPT to be a useful writing assistant for case notes, treatment plan templates, and other clinical documentation. 

For case notes, for instance, he writes a free write of session content (leaving out any protected health information [PHI]), then asks ChatGPT to put the information into DAP note or SOAP note format.  

”ChatGPT does a pretty good job of formatting the free write into a case note,” he said. “I then review and edit the case note it produces to finalize my note.”  

This counselor explained that ChatGPT has cut down the time it takes him to complete a task he used to dread. 

“It’s much easier to motivate myself to do a free write soon after the session, as opposed to a formal note, so I am no longer falling behind on case notes, and I have more time to spend on research and business management,” he said. “I also train ChatGPT over time by giving it feedback about how I want my notes to look. I look at it as an evolved version of template programs. I think it could become a technology that more clinicians embrace…”

Another therapist used ChatGPT to create an automated email marketing campaign, generating personalized emails for clients that increased engagement and improved marketing efforts.

ChatGPT can also be used to write blogs, newsletters, website content, social media ads, captions for social media posts, generate hashtags, and even create business plans and marketing strategies. 

For more examples, you may want to check out the top uses of ChatGPT in medicine and wellness in a recent Forbes article.  

Administrative Tasks Some Therapists Are Using ChatGPT to Tackle

Automated Data Input and Analysis

ChatGPT can be used for automation with Excel and other programs to input and analyze data, including data from electronic health records (EHRs). ChatGPT can generate code to input into Excel, automatically creating a document that pulls all client names from a folder of your choosing.  

Treatment Planning and Recommendations

While ChatGPT cannot diagnose or treat patients due to its limitations in understanding context and lack of emotional intelligence, it can help improve the accuracy of diagnoses and treatment plans.  It can provide personalized treatment recommendations by analyzing client data and generating tailored treatment interventions and plans. 

Appointment Scheduling and Reminders 

Mental health professionals can use ChatGPT to schedule appointments, send reminders and confirmations, and even reschedule appointments. 

Automated Intake Forms

ChatGPT can be used to automate the intake process by sending new clients intake forms to fill out and submit online. 

Answering Common Questions 

Mental health professionals can use ChatGPT to answer common questions from clients. This can include questions about billing, insurance, office hours, and much more. In March 2023, OpenAI debuted access to ChatGPT through its API service, letting business customers access the chatbot technology and integrate it with their own software.  

Marketing Efforts 

ChatGPT can be used to automate marketing efforts by writing and sending out newsletters and promotional messages. 

Potential Drawbacks and Limitations of Using ChatGPT

There are several concerns regarding ChatGPT’s use in mental health care, including:

• ethical and legal implications
• data privacy issues
• client privacy and confidentiality issues 
• accuracy issues 
• potential biases of language programming models 
• infrastructure requirements (such as cloud computing)
• cost considerations.

Mental health professionals should approach the use of ChatGPT with caution, recognizing its limitations and ensuring that it is used responsibly and ethically. They should balance the benefits of ChatGPT with the need for human connection and emotional support. 

In Conclusion

Mental health professionals can benefit from incorporating ChatGPT into their practices to tackle administrative work and make more time for what is important—helping clients. 

With ChatGPT’s ability to learn from its interactions and improve its responses over time, it can enhance client outcomes and improve the overall experience for clients and practitioners alike. 

While there may be potential drawbacks, these can be addressed with proper monitoring, use, and implementation. 

By embracing the possibilities of AI and technology, while also recognizing the human connection and empathy therapists, counselors, and mental health practitioners we offer our clients,  we can continue to evolve and grow as mental health practitioners. 

Was this helpful to you? Have you used ChatGPT to tackle “admin work” in your practice in ways that were not mentioned? Keep the conversation going with #mentalhealthGPT so that we can keep learning from one another. 

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