Real Therapist or Chatbot?

PTSD Resolution, the Armed Forces veterans' mental health charity, today launches Campaign for Real Therapy, a public-awareness campaign to help people looking for mental health support understand the difference between an AI chatbot and one-to-one therapy with a trained, accountable therapist. Its central message is that real mental health care needs real human connection.

People turn to AI because it is immediate, feels private and is inexpensive, says Malcolm Hanson, clinical director of PTSD Resolution. The campaign does not oppose technology that is properly supervised and widens access to support. Its concern is with AI being marketed, or misunderstood, as a complete package of therapy in its own right.

An unsupervised AI chatbot can hold a convincing conversation, but it cannot provide the professional judgement, responsibility, safeguarding or therapeutic relationship that people need when they are distressed, traumatised or at risk.

A human therapist is moderated by self-awareness and external oversight: areas where AI has a major gap. The limits of AI in the context of what appears to be a relatively straightforward conversation can be small and hard to see, yet the effect of these differences can be profound, especially cumulatively, if a person is accessing different chats or bots

The concern is already being seen in practice

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy's 2025 Mindometer survey of 2,980 members found that 28% of therapists had seen an increase in clients reporting unhelpful therapy advice from ChatGPT and other AI tools. In January 2026 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency published guidance to help people check the claims, evidence and data practices of digital mental health tools, and the British Psychological Society said AI must not replace human support.

PTSD Resolution's one-to-one human therapy has been independently evaluated. A King's College London service evaluation, published in the journal Occupational Medicine in March 2025, found that 82% of clients completed treatment, that the recovery rate for PTSD cases was 66%, and that 79% achieved reliable improvement on combined measures of anxiety and depression. The charity has treated 5,500 veterans, reservists and family members, at an average cost of £910 per therapy course, delivered free to clients.

"A chatbot can sound caring but cannot take professional responsibility for someone in distress, or safeguard them. Every day at PTSD Resolution we see the positive outcomes when a trained therapist gives a person their full attention. We want people, and the organisations that refer them, to know the difference."Colonel Tony Gauvain (retired), Chairman of PTSD Resolution

Two aims

The campaign has two aims. The first is to help people seeking support understand the difference between AI and human therapy, and the risks of relying on AI, so that they are better equipped to make an informed, safer choice.

The second is to do the same for health, education and other organisations that inform or refer people for treatment, so that appropriate human therapy remains the standard they signpost. It also asks that people should always be told plainly when they are talking to AI, and technology should support human care, not replace it.

The campaign will also argue for timely, affordable human therapy, including remote therapy, recognising that many people turn to AI because services can be hard to reach.

More information: www.PTSDresolution.org

Media contact

Patrick Rea, Trustee and Marketing & Campaign Director, PTSD Resolution press@ptsdresolution.org

About PTSD Resolution

PTSD Resolution (Charity No. 1202649) provides free, prompt and confidential mental health treatment for Armed Forces veterans, reservists and their families, delivered locally one-to-one and over the internet through a network of 200 therapists nationwide. Founded in 2009, the charity is accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to the Quality Network for Veterans Mental Health Services. It has treated 5,500 clients at an average cost of £910 per therapy course.

Notes to editors

• Campaign for Real Therapy is developed by PTSD Resolution, which delivers one-to-one therapy to Armed Forces veterans through Human Givens Institute (HGI) registered therapists.
• The treatment figures come from Hall and Greenberg, "A service evaluation of PTSD Resolution therapy for military veterans", Occupational Medicine, volume 75, issue 2, March 2025. The evaluation analysed 172 closed cases from April 2022 to May 2023. It was funded by a grant from PTSD Resolution, which had no input into its methodology or content.
• The BACP figure is from its 2025 Mindometer survey, fieldwork 3 to 17 September 2025, published 18 November 2025.
• The MHRA guidance on digital mental health tools was first published on 27 January 2026.
• Anyone who is struggling can call Samaritans free at any time on 116 123.