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Liftoff! Facilitating Successful Launch in Emerging Adults

Echo Chamber or Reflective Lens: AI, Psychotherapy, and Young Adult Mental Health

Molly Pachan, PhD
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Information

Recorded

  • -

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Identify the at least 2 benefits and at least 2 risks of AI usage for mental health support in young adults.

  • Describe the risk of echo chambers in AI and generic psychotherapy.

  • Explain the concept of Reflective function as an umbrella term.

  • Identify and describe at least 2 ways to infuse mirroring into psychotherapy with AI as a support tool.

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this session is for participants to explore the promise and perils of AI use in young adults, address parallels with AI and psychotherapy, define ways psychotherapy can function in concert with AI to promote healthy functioning.

Description

This presentation explores how AI agents and therapy run a risk to become echo chambers for young adults, reinforcing existing beliefs without fostering growth. It advocates for time-limited, intensive, purpose-driven care that disrupts entrenched patterns and cultivates reflective function. Rooted in psychodynamic principles, reflective function enables young adults to understand themselves and others through mental states, promoting emotional regulation, identity development, and relational depth. In contrast to AI’s simulated empathy, psychotherapy offers a reflective lens that mirrors, challenges, and transforms. Reflective function is the antidote to echo chambers in a digitally saturated world.

Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

Molly Pachan, PhD
Dr. Molly Pachan is a clinical psychologist with specialties in psychodynamic treatment, mentalization and reflective functioning, bipolar disorder care, personality disorders, and treatment of complex comorbid conditions. She holds a dual appointment as a Residential Psychologist at Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio, as well as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Pachan completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, her master's and doctoral degrees at Loyola University Chicago, and her predoctoral internship at Cambridge Health Alliance - Harvard Medical School. She has completed advanced postgraduate certificates at Northwestern University, Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, and the University of Cincinnati. Her academic interests include the role of AI in mental healthcare, personality disorders, lifespan development, and intercultural psychology. Dr. Pachan enjoys writing, speaking, and consulting with organizations on the role of AI in mental healthcare. She is the author of the AI-ASK clinical framework for assessing and addressing patients' AI usage in mental healthcare.