I tried an AI therapy app for three months and I want to give an honest account because the reviews are either glowing or horrified

I want to preface this by saying I am not in crisis, I have a good support system, and I used this as a supplement to not a replacement for other support. I tried one of the AI therapy apps for three months because I was curious and because I was going through a stressful period and my actual therapist had a three week wait for the next appointment.

What I found genuinely useful: having somewhere to process anxious thoughts at 2am when no human support is available. The app was good at asking questions that helped me think more clearly. It was patient in a way that does not get tired.

What concerned me: it validated my perspective almost every time. It rarely pushed back or offered a reframe that challenged my framing of a situation. A human therapist does that and it is sometimes uncomfortable and almost always useful. The AI felt like talking to someone who agreed with me by default which is not what therapy is supposed to do.

I share this because I think both the enthusiasm and the alarm around AI mental health tools are missing what is actually happening when someone uses one.