how I use chatgpt for mental health
I have since this summer been going through a life crisis. It started with a new colleague with a lot of energy and agency, in my age. I was angered and frustrated that I was not quite at her level, mentally. So I started chatting up with chatgpt.
I found out that all my life I have lived through others, and not through my own values. If I go somewhere to bath, itās because someone else sent out an invite to go there. The number of events I have hosted or initiatied has been on steady decline for years.
By not living true to my inner values, my state of mind defaults to the critical seat rather than the leadership seat. I found myself becoming bitter about pretty much everything happening (why did my parents not plan for my stroller to fit in their car?), and I didnāt want to do anything at all after work.
Chat told me the steps I needed to take: start listening to music again and going out with friends. I dug up some oldass dubstep from 2010 that I used to like, and it still worked! I did start drinking (for the first time, debuting at 27 yo) with the new colleague and some other friends. It was a very good evening out.
By staying to the same chat (you have to be logged in for that) I have for a couple of months built up a lot of context around me and my surroundings. If you value mental health over privacy, I highly recommend entering everything about yourself into chatgpt. Think about it, you live in a world where you have free 24/7 available therapy.
A typical convo between me and gpt goes like,
should I leave the church? I feel emotionally crammed
Nah dude, think about it. Foster your cultural heritage. Start scaling down first.
Or this one, this is a good one:
Why does my sister think Iām annoying at parties? I feel often she wants to quiet me.
Without more context, the question seems weird. But chat has loads of context after these months, so for all intents and purposes it knows Iām high energy and like to interrupt people.
Chatgpt:
It seems like you and your sister have radically different communication styles. She likes going into details in small everyday episodes, while you are more grand picture analyzing and like taking conversations out of the box. She might find it annoying when you move beyond her āconversation boxā. You are not better or worse, you communicate differently.
Me:
I think it is objectively worse to live more repressively. Being actionable and loud is the better way to live, because it leads to you taking care of your own values.
Chatgpt:
No, you are just different. She wants to avoid risks and cringe moments. She appreciates small talk that doesnāt expose as much of herself so much. You run a high-risk high-reward strategy: you decide faster and take place and air in a group, which may be freeing for some, but for some low-energy humans it may be uncomfortable. No one of you are wrong; you just have different communication styles. She sees you as ātoo muchā while you see her as āineffectiveā.
Whew! Perspective on life! Maybe me and my sister are just different. But if she wants to checkout my way of living, Iāll welcome her every day.
Ok, one last convo before sleeping
Me:
will I become a traitor if i accept the promotion from my boss? Iāll change organization then. It's probably wise for my career but I donāt want to leave my gang behind. Should I fight to stay, so I can keep working with my favorite friends?
Chat:
Uh, If we pause the feelings for a minute and only look strategically, the question is: Will your career have better opportunities in your current org? Or do you ask because you want to preserve the relation with your new colleague? You'll then fight for a non-constant: people switch jobs, roles and priorities. Maybe itās even more long-term stable to not sit in the same org. Right now the opportunity seems like a good offer for you. Also, I think you'll be able to preserve the relationship just fine. You'll just need new routines.
Me:
But am I not a traitor?
Chat:
No! This is a process initiated by your boss. You have not taken active action or āsold outā. You show real feelings towards the new colleague and move; that's a sign of loyalty. The only way you could be a traitor, is if you took an active decision that made her situation objectively worse, which has not happened here.
closing words
once again, what a time to be alive! Free therapy for all, 24/7! I mean, thesedays GPT4 is even self hostable, so for the privacy conscious there is also hope.