The Pygmalion mythology in the psychotherapy

Abstract

The question “Are machines able to think?” raised in 1950 by Alan Turing (1912-1954) contributed to the revival of the myth of thinking machines for the computer age. 16 years later Joseph Weizenbaum (1923-2008) developed a computer program in the United States which became popular as the simulation of a psychotherapist. This program caused enormous sensation and also motivated other computer experts to develop similar programs which today run in the Internet as Chat bot and as Artificial Intelligence simulate human communicators. In the sixties the idea ofthe “simulation of a psychotherapist” seemed to be eccentric. Since the nineties, however, online offers with a psychotherapeutic matter of concern have been established in the Internet dynamically and thus provoke the question with substance: “Has the simulation of a psychotherapist already come very close?” Searching an answer, I first discuss the available psychotherapeutic online offers and then present and establish the terms of construction and the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence in the virtual spectrum of psychotherapeutic services.

Keywords Psychotherapy; Boundaries of psychotherapy; Psychotherapy in the Internet; Online consultation; Online therapy; Artificial intelligence, Automated psychotherapy; Development of the psychotherapy.