AI in therapy 2026: A survey of both sides of the room

AI in therapy

Last year, It’s Complicated surveyed both sides of the therapy room, clients and practitioners, about how AI was showing up in their care and their work. It’s still rare for research in this space to capture both perspectives together. Most surveys ask one side or the other. Ours asks both, so we can see not just how people are using AI, but how that use is landing on the other side of the relationship too.

A year on, we want to know what’s changed, and this year there’s a new reason it matters.

What Europe’s AI disclosure rules cover, and what they leave out

Since 2 August 2026, AI chatbots operating in Europe have been legally required to tell you they’re AI, the same rule that applies to any chatbot, whether it’s tracking a parcel or standing in for a therapist. Self-help mental health chatbots aren’t classified as high-risk under EU law, so that disclosure duty is the only real obligation they’re under. The European Commission’s own review this year found that self-help chatbots have already been linked to real harm in Europe, including documented deaths, and still concluded no further rule change is needed for now. A tool people turn to for something as sensitive as their mental health is currently held to no higher a legal standard than one that helps you find a recipe.

That gap is part of why this year’s survey matters, but it’s only one piece of what we’re asking. Alongside new questions on regulation and disclosure, this year’s AI in therapy report covers how clients and practitioners are actually using AI, what’s helped, what hasn’t, and how that’s shifted since last year’s findings.

Take part in this year’s survey

There are two surveys, one for clients and one for practitioners. Both take about five minutes, and answers are anonymous.

Client survey Practitioner survey

Why we’re tracking AI in therapy across Europe

Since our first report, the landscape has shifted in ways worth tracking properly. European usage data now exists where it didn’t before: a 2026 Ipsos BVA survey of 3,800 people aged 11 to 25 across France, Germany, Sweden and Ireland found that nearly half had used AI chatbots to discuss personal or intimate matters, and that more found it easy to talk to a chatbot about mental health than to a psychologist. Clinical research is also starting to draw a sharper line between purpose-built mental health tools, some now showing real, evidenced results in trials, and the general-purpose apps and chatbots most people are actually using.

None of this was part of the conversation when we ran our first survey. It is now, and this year’s questions reflect that: a dedicated section on regulation and disclosure, new questions on emotional attachment to AI tools, and a deliberate widening of our reach across European countries, not just It’s Complicated’s own community.

What the client and practitioner surveys cover

The client survey covers how AI is showing up in people’s care, what’s helped, what hasn’t, and how they feel about the disclosure rules now in place. The practitioner survey covers the same territory from the other side: how AI is showing up in practitioners’ work, what they’re noticing in clients, and what they think Europe’s current rules do and don’t cover.

Last year’s responses left us with questions we couldn’t answer from the data alone, which our co-founder Johanne wrote about in When AI Entered the Therapy Room, and which one of our therapists explored from a more personal angle in My Personal Experience with AI Therapy. This year’s questions are built partly to answer them.

Every response is anonymous, and the results will be published openly for the whole sector to use, not just for us.

How to take part

The survey closes on 1 October. Whichever side of the therapy room you’re on, client or practitioner, we’d love to hear from you.

Add your voice before 1 October

Five minutes, anonymous, and the more of Europe we hear from, the more accurate a picture this report can give the whole sector, at a moment of significant change.

Client survey Practitioner survey

If you’re looking for human support alongside an AI tool, or instead of one, you can explore therapists on It’s Complicated or use the matching service to be paired with someone suited to your situation. Sessions are available online and in person, in 60+ languages.

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