This research explored how individuals who have previously engaged in traditional face-to-face therapy experience emotionally supportive interactions with AI chatbots — and, in particular, how they make sense of the absence of embodied human presence in those exchanges.

Drawing on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and grounded in an existential psychology perspective, the study used in-depth semi-structured interviews to give voice to participants' lived experiences. Rather than measuring effectiveness or comparing outcomes, this work sought to understand what it is actually like to turn to an AI for emotional support when one already knows what it means to sit with a human therapist.

The study was conducted with ethical approval and aimed to contribute to a growing — and much-needed — conversation about the role of technology in mental health care, the nature of therapeutic presence, and what may be gained or lost when the other in the room is not human.