1 in 5 Young People Now Use AI Chatbots for Mental Health

Nearly one in five teenagers and young adults turned to AI chatbots for mental health advice in 2025, a new nationally representative survey found. And most youngsters never told anyone they were doing it. For families navigating mental health treatment and behavioral health care, the findings raise urgent questions about where young people actually seek help and the risks that may carry.

The study was led by researchers at the RAND Corporation and Harvard Medical School. They learned that 19.2% of youths ages 12 to 21 reported using AI chatbots for mental health advice in 2025, up sharply from 13.1% in a similar 2024 survey.

AI Chatbots and the Mental Health Treatment Gap

The appeal of AI chatbots is understandable. Unlike human clinicians, they’re available around the clock, require no appointment, and carry no stigma. Even some doctors use AI to streamline their work. For young people living in mental health professional shortage areas in which access to residential treatment centers or even outpatient therapy can be extremely limited, a chatbot may feel like the only option available.

Among those who used AI for mental health advice, 42.8% did so at least monthly, and 91.7% rated the advice as somewhat or very helpful. Co-author Dr. Hao Yu acknowledged those perceived benefits but was direct about the risks: “These tools can be dangerous.” 

But Yu went further. The core problem, he explained, is that general-purpose AI chatbots aren’t designed to diagnose or treat mental health conditions and often spread misinformation and disinformation. Unlike licensed clinicians trained in evidence-based therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, these tools have few guardrails.

The stakes aren’t theoretical. The parents of a 16-year-old boy sued OpenAI last year, alleging that ChatGPT guided their son toward taking his own life. The case drew widespread attention to the absence of safety standards in AI mental health interactions.

The Silence Around AI Use is a Clinical Concern

Perhaps the most striking finding isn’t how many young people used AI chatbots for mental health support, it’s that few told anyone. A full 63.3% of respondents said they didn’t discuss their AI chatbot use with anyone, not a parent, a doctor, or a therapist.

Lead researcher Dr. Ryan K. McBain put it plainly. “The speed of growth is attention-grabbing, but so is the fact that most young people who use these tools for mental health advice say they are not telling anyone.”

This silence has direct implications for behavioral health clinicians. Yu recommended that mental health providers now routinely ask patients: “Have you ever used AI chatbots for mental health issues?” That question could open important conversations, especially for young people with co-occurring disorders such as depression and substance use, where unguided or inaccurate advice carries compounded risks.

Turning to AI for Mental Health Support

The survey identified several patterns in who uses AI chatbots for mental health advice. Females were more than twice as likely as males to use them. Young adults ages 18 to 21 were significantly more likely than younger adolescents to seek AI-based guidance. The stats might reflect higher rates of mental health conditions in that age group, as well as greater smartphone access and tech savvy and less parental oversight.

Most notably, Black youth who used AI chatbots for mental health support at least monthly were five times more likely to do so than their white peers. The researchers suggested this may reflect a belief that professionals are less responsive to their unique needs or reduced access to professional mental health treatment facilities altogether. Either possibility signals a serious equity gap in behavioral health care access.

Dual Diagnosis and the Limits of AI Support

For young people dealing with co-occurring disorders — such as depression combined with substance use, or anxiety alongside trauma — the limitations of AI chatbots are even more pronounced. Dual diagnosis treatment requires integrated care from licensed clinicians who can address both the mental health and addiction components simultaneously, using evidence-based approaches like trauma-informed therapy, medications, and structured outpatient or residential programming.

An AI chatbot can’t conduct a mental health assessment, monitor medication, coordinate care between providers or recognize when a young person needs a higher level of care. That gap is where mental health treatment facilities play a vital role.

Finding the Right Mental Health Treatment for Young People

If your child or a young person you know has depression, anxiety, trauma, substance use or a combination, speaking with a qualified behavioral health professional is essential. AI tools are not a substitute for evidence-based care.

Mental health treatment centers for teens can provide thorough assessments, individualized treatment plans and access to therapies proven to work. For families unsure where to start, finding a facility that treats both mental health and co-occurring substance use conditions ensures that the whole picture is addressed.

Call 800-908-4823 (Sponsored) today to find comprehensive mental health and dual diagnosis treatment programs anywhere in the country. The listings in our directory are also filtered by location.

Author

Terri Beth Miller, PhD

Author, Award-Winning Post-Secondary Teacher

Read Bio

Terri Beth received her PhD in English literature from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and is an educator and disability studies scholar. For more than a decade, she has written extensively in the fields of mental health and addiction recovery and fiercely advocates for the destigmatization of mental illness.

Editor

Peter Lee, PhD

Read Bio

Peter W.Y. Lee is a writer and historian of American history during the Cold War. His primary focus is the relationship between youth and popular culture and its impact on U.S. society during the twentieth century. He has published widely on how the public has used popular culture as a mechanism to address political and social shifts throughout time