AI Mental Health Coach

It starts by asking what has been going on and for how long, because a hard week and a hard two months are different things.

Then it says back what it heard. It helps you name the feeling, such as worry, dread, flatness or irritability, without putting a label or a diagnosis on you. It looks at what has changed: sleep, appetite, energy, what you have stopped doing.

After that come two or three small steps for today or this week. Small means a ten-minute walk, one message to a friend, or the first piece of one task. If what you describe has gone on most days for two weeks or more, or is affecting work or home, it says that this is worth taking to a doctor or therapist. Then it asks one question.

Everyday stress that has piled up: work, money worries, caring for someone, all at once. It helps you separate what needs you this week from what can wait.

Low-mood days. Not every day, but more than usual. It asks what the low days have in common.

Worry loops. The same thought at 3 AM, every night. If your body is racing before your mind has caught up, the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise or box breathing can come first.

Feeling flat, or overwhelmed. Going through the day without feeling much, or feeling everything at once. The distress tolerance test looks at how long you can stay with a hard feeling, and the coping style test at what you tend to do with it.

Sleep and routine slipping, each part making the others worse. It picks one thread to pull, not five.

Wanting to understand a feeling. Why a small thing set you off, or why you feel lonely with people around. The loneliness test separates three kinds of loneliness.

Getting ready to talk to a doctor or therapist. What has changed, since when, and what you want help with, written down so the appointment does not end before you say it.

If you only want to be heard, vent to an AI listens and does nothing else.

It will not diagnose you or tell you that you have anxiety, depression or anything else. Only a licensed professional can assess that. It gives no advice about medication; starting, stopping or changing a dose is for your prescriber. It does not provide therapy or treatment, and it does not promise you will feel better by a certain date.

It also does not know you, it will not remember this conversation, and it can be wrong. If an answer does not fit, say so.

Talk to a doctor or a licensed therapist if:

• you have felt low, empty, anxious or on edge most days for two weeks or more
• you are not coping at work, at school or at home
• your sleep, appetite or energy have changed a lot and are not coming back
• you are using alcohol or drugs to get through the day
• something painful that happened keeps coming back, in memories or nightmares

If you are not sure where to start, a primary care doctor is a reasonable first stop.

If you are having any thoughts of hurting yourself or of not wanting to be alive, call or text 988 now, at any hour, in the US. If you are in danger right now, call 911. If someone is hurting or scaring you, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.

This chat, like the Lovon app, is for adults 18 and over.

This page is a text chat of about ten messages. The Lovon app takes the same approach by voice, which some people find easier than typing on a hard day. It is an AI there too, not a person and not a licensed professional, and it is not for emergencies. If you want to keep going, get the Lovon app.