Can relationships with Artificial Intelligence (AI) avatars decrease a person’s loneliness? Can AI connections help us feel connected? These topics and more will be covered throughout this blog post.
Advancements in AI
In the past few years, our world has seen exponential growth in AI technology and its ability to replicate human interactions. AI is being used to help people complete tax returns, inform science, help write blog posts, and, as is attempting to replicate human connections and build relationships. Can AI relationships decrease loneliness? It’s an interesting question to contemplate.
AI May Support Connection
Leaning into AI relationships can help us feel connected. However, given AI’s limitations and difficulty in providing authentic empathy and nervous system co-regulation, it still has some room to improve. It will be interesting to see how far AI can advance in terms of replicating human connections and emotions.Â
Connections with AI and building relationships with AI-like characters can increase a person’s connection. These connections can increase one’s ability to speak with and engage with another person-like entity. Thus, increasing one’s sense of community. However, it may also have drawbacks, which will be discussed below.Â
Implications of AI in Relationships
Building and maintaining a connection with an AI avatar may be supportive but what happens when that entity is not there or cannot be accessed? This similar question also arises when discussing one’s connection to another person. We, as humans, do not want to become dependent on someone else and their connection to us. We want to develop a stable sense-of-self, first, that can endure with and without other forms of connection.
The Root Cause of Loneliness
Lean into discomfort. Many different things can cause loneliness. Loneliness can stem from depression, loss, limited ability to connect with others, negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia, and trauma-induced hypervigilance and fear of others. Finding the root cause of what causes loneliness in your life is paramount.
How to Heal Loneliness
Determining what factors contribute to loneliness will guide what and how an individual therapist near you works. Therapy interventions for depression may look different than if an individual therapist is treating symptoms related to trauma. No matter how loneliness is formed, individual therapy must be consistent to generate new neural pathways to guide future thoughts and behavior. This may help to decrease a person’s loneliness symptoms.
Individual Therapist in Kenosha
It may be time to seek individual therapy if you struggle with loneliness.An individual therapist can help to lessen these struggles and teach you the skills needed to manage loneliness when it arises. At Revitalize Mental Health PLLC we understand how to support someone who experiences loneliness. We offer Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy in Kenosha and throughout Colorado to support people in their healing. Call now at 720.295.6703 or submit an online form here to get started.
