AI Chatbots and Youth Mental Health: Practical Recommendations for Clinicians
A clinical commentary in the official journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry offering child- and adolescent-psychiatry clinicians practical guidance on assessing and responding to young patients' use of AI chatbots. It situates chatbots as a developmental influence following social media, drawing on the 2023 US Surgeon General advisory, and addresses emotional attachment to generative AI among vulnerable youth.
Publisher
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Published
19 Dec 2025
Added
1 week ago
Key Findings
- Frames AI chatbots as the next digital developmental influence on youth after social media, invoking the 2023 US Surgeon General advisory that social media poses a 'profound risk of harm' to adolescent mental health.
- Offers clinicians practical recommendations for assessing and responding to adolescents' use of AI chatbots as emotional and mental-health interlocutors.
- Highlights the risk of generative AI fostering emotional attachments among vulnerable young people.
Methodology Notes
Editorial/commentary (not original empirical research) in a peer-reviewed venue; the official journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published online ahead of print 2025-12-19 (Crossref records December 2025, month-level). Verified via PubMed (PMID 41423043) and Crossref (DOI 10.1016/j.jaac.2025.12.005); the jaacap.org landing page blocks automated fetchers.
Sources
JAACAP Article (Abstract) (primary)
Authors
Yael Dvir, Phoebe S. Moore, Megan M. Kelly
Tags
Cite This
APA
Yael Dvir, Phoebe S. Moore, Megan M. Kelly (2025). AI Chatbots and Youth Mental Health: Practical Recommendations for Clinicians. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(25)02234-8/abstract
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