Therapy in the Age of AI and Social Media

Nakita Jangra Psychotherapist

www.nakitacounselling.com

This is a deeply important and timely question. You're tapping into a convergence of social, technological, and psychological shifts that will require the field of therapy—not just as a practice but as a philosophy of human development—to evolve. Below is a layered response exploring what is likely to change in human psychological development due to AI and social media, and how therapy may need to adapt.

Part 1: The Changing Psychological Landscape

1.1 Fragmented Identity and the Rise of the Externalised Self - Social media encourages a performative identity: people curate themselves for visibility rather than cultivating internal coherence. With AI amplifying these dynamics—through algorithmic feedback loops, deepfakes, synthetic companions—this trend will deepen.- Consequence: A fragile sense of self, increasingly reliant on external validation. Introspection, ambiguity, and contradiction (hallmarks of maturity) may be treated as errors to be corrected.

1.2 Flattened Emotional Range- Emotional nuance is de-incentivised by digital communication. The rise of short-form, image-driven content and emotionally charged headlines (or AI-generated content that "optimises" emotional engagement) reduces space for subtlety and complex emotions.- Consequence: People may become less able to recognise, articulate, or regulate nuanced emotional states. Emotional literacy may decline even as "mental health awareness" trends upward.

1.3 Conflict Avoidance and Binary Thinking- Online environments polarise discourse, rewarding outrage and discouraging nuanced, relational repair. AI-generated interactions may further dilute empathy and real-time accountability.- Consequence: Reduced tolerance for discomfort, ambiguity, and interpersonal repair. This hinders developmental tasks such as differentiation and mature intimacy.

1.4 Disconnection from Embodiment - AI interfaces and online spaces draw attention away from the body and into the head. The more time spent mediated through screens and interfaces, the more dissociation from somatic cues and inner awareness.- Consequence: Increased anxiety, disembodiment, and difficulty with presence. Many may become increasingly cognitively sophisticated while remaining developmentally regressed.

1.5 Infantilization and Dependency - As AI automates decision-making, information processing, and even emotional support (e.g., AI therapists, chatbots), a passive dependency may develop.- Consequence: Less psychological resilience and autonomy. The capacity for frustration tolerance, initiative, and self-reflection may atrophy.

Part 2: What Therapy Needs to Become

2.1 From Treatment to Re-Humanisation Therapy may need to shift from focusing only on symptom relief to becoming a space for re-humanisation:- Fostering depth in a culture of speed.- Cultivating inner authority in an age of outsourced decision-making.- Embodying presence in a digital age of disconnection. Therapy becomes a form of resistance to the dehumanising forces of modernity.

2.2 Emphasise Process Over Performance Therapists may need to:- Model non-performative presence.- Help clients move from self-image to self-inquiry.- Work more deeply with shame, projection, and avoidance, as these issues tend to increase in hyper-curated digital selves.

2.3 Teach Conflict as a Developmental Skill: We may need to reframe conflict as a necessary encounter with otherness.- A space for identity formation and boundary work.- A practice of repair in contrast to cancel culture or ghosting. Therapy may have to explicitly teach clients how to:- Stay in difficult dialogues.- Differentiate disagreement from attack.- Regulate emotions while holding complexity.

2.4 Restore Embodied Awareness Therapy must become more somatic:- Use breath, movement, and sensation tracking to restore connection to the body.- Help clients develop bottom-up regulation skills that aren’t replicable by AI or found on screens. This may become foundational, rather than optional.

2.5 Support Meaning-Making in a Post-Work Society: As AI displaces jobs, therapy may need to address existential voids. Help clients transition from an identity rooted in productivity to one rooted in values, relationships, and service.- Facilitate spiritual and philosophical reflection—not religious dogma, but grounded, existential inquiry.- Engage the mythic or symbolic dimensions of the psyche as antidotes to the flattening of algorithmic logic.

Part 3: Evolving the Therapeutic Frame

3.1 Greater Cultural and Technological Literacy Therapists need working knowledge of:- Social media ecosystems.- AI-human relational dynamics.- Cultural shifts in language, power, and generational identity. This literacy helps therapists contextualise suffering rather than individualise it as pathology.

3.2 Community-Based and Collective Models - One-on-one therapy may no longer be sufficient.- Group models, peer-led circles, ritual spaces, and intergenerational dialogues may need to supplement clinical work to enhance overall effectiveness.- Therapy could evolve to restore communal meaning and collective nervous system regulation.

3.3 Integration with AI (Mindfully)AI may assist in:- Tracking patterns over time.- Enhancing accessibility.- Offering psychoeducation. But human therapists must differentiate themselves through:- Presence.- Intuition.- Depth work.- Spiritual intelligence.

Closing Thought: In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, therapy must become a site of natural intelligence. In this place, the body, the unconscious, and the mystery of being are still valued. It must ask:- Who are we becoming?- What does it mean to be fully human?- How do we retain soul in an age of simulation? This is the frontier not just of therapy, but of civilisation.