Embodiment

Therapy chatbots are misleading the general public.

They only tell a partial story of how healing occurs.

In essence they say: 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴.

𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 how this is solely cognitive.

This is perpetuating an incomplete picture that we are simply a complex brain sitting atop a body. But you know better than that. You know that your human experience lies far deeper than cognitive processes.

▫️ You know it when your body responds to an uncomfortable situation by wanting to run or hide; even though your mind is tell you you're ok.

▫️ You know it when you feel knots in your stomach; even though you are totally prepared for the presentation.

▫️ You know it when you walk past a café and smell a waft of bakery goods immediately transporting you to a fond memory.

This is called 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 work...and it's a major facet of therapeutic approach (especially trauma-informed methods).

There are 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 and 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗺 tucked inside our bodies, ones that our conscious brains have forgotten (which is often a gift because that feature acts as self-protection).

𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀! And there's a growing body of research asserting that. But we can't confuse chatbots for what they are not; they are cognitive, we are embodied.