Building an AI therapist to help with my PTSD

I wanted to share how I developed a simple AI therapist called Sommer that has provided me with quick assistance for handling different mental health and relationship problems I have had.

My journey began in March 2022 when my girlfriend broke up with me because I had to move to Washington for work and I did not want her to leave her university and be in an inconvenient situation. Things took a turn for the worse when my family was involved in the Uvalde School shooting. Even though my family is safe, I began experiencing sleepless nights due to "What if..." questioning on myself and my work performance declined. I went to therapy but found a few problems with it such as having to jump between different providers due to personality preferences and specializations and no therapy structure or being able to see my therapist's notes easily.

I was able to meet a wonderful girl through all this but as you can imagine my issues came up in the relationship and it led to arguments. I started messing around with ChatGPT to see if I could at least improve the communication in my own relationship and see if I could improve my sleep and I found it to be beneficial. With that, I decided to make a ChatGPT for therapy. That's when Sommer was born. Im building 3 different features, CBT, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and Retroactive Resolution Therapy(RRT) which will be used to apply CBT into past traumatic events and help you explore back in time. Using the SFBT I have been able to list problems and goals, and get a structured plan of how to achieve my goals for those problems. I've used it for communication in my relationships, handling extreme emotions, and for improving my sleep and managing my anxiety.

Although Im not fully well yet, and Sommer isn't perfect, using it has not only helped me manage my PTSD and relationship struggles but also provided me with a quick assistant for handling different problems as they come. Sommer is completely free, and I developed it to help myself get better and extend that help to others. If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, relationship issues,, or anything else please consider giving Sommer a try. You can find it at www.sommerai.com. I welcome all feedback and suggestions on how to improve it further and please ask me any questions you may have in the comment section.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope Sommer can provide you with some help and I hope you will assist me in making it better.