Trusting AI with Your Bipolar Care: What You Should Know

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how we search for information, make decisions, and even seek mental health support. But can AI therapy safely help people living with bipolar disorder? In this episode, Gabe Howard (who lives with bipolar) and Dr. Nicole Washington explore the potential benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence for bipolar management. They discuss why people may trust AI more than doctors or therapists, what can happen when an AI chatbot validates thoughts that should instead raise a red flag, and whether AI can recognize dangerous symptoms of mania, depression, psychosis, or suicidality. The conversation isn't entirely negative. AI could help reduce clinician burnout, analyze patterns in mental health data, identify potential mood changes, and give people useful ideas for sleep, routines, motivation, and self-care. Listeners will learn: how artificial intelligence can help — and harm — people with bipolar disorder why human mental health care still matters how to use AI safely and protect your mental health So where should people with bipolar disorder draw the line? Gabe and Dr. Nicole discuss the promise, risks, profit motive, and safeguards that are still needed before AI becomes a trusted part of mental health care. Pull Quote: “AI thinks really quick. So every rabbit hole I jump down follows me right along. For mania? It’s gas on a fire.” — Gabe Howard, host Our host, Gabe Howard, is an award-winning podcast host, author, and sought-after suicide prevention and mental health speaker, but he wouldn’t be any of those things today if he hadn’t been committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2003.Gabe also hosts Healthline's Inside Mental Health podcast has appeared in numerous publications, including Bipolar magazine, WebMD, Newsweek, and the Stanford Online Medical Journal. He has appeared on all four major TV networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. Among his many awards, he is the recipient of Mental Health America’s Norman Guitry Award, received two Webby Honoree acknowledgements, and received an official resolution from the Governor of Ohio naming him an “Everyday Hero.” Gabe wrote the popular book, "Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations," available from Amazon; signed copies are available directly from the author with free swag included! To learn more about Gabe, or to book him for your next event, please visit his website, gabehoward.com. Our host, Dr. Nicole Washington, is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she attended Southern University and A&M College. After receiving her BS degree, she moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to enroll in the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed a residency in psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma in Tulsa. Since completing her residency training, Dr. Nicole has spent most of her career caring for and being an advocate for those who are not typically consumers of mental health services, namely underserved communities, those with severe mental health conditions, and high performing professionals. Through her private practice, podcast, speaking, and writing, she seeks to provide education to decrease the stigma associated with psychiatric conditions. Find out more at DrNicolePsych.com.