AI in the therapist’s office

As more psychologists turn to AI for routine administrative tasks, they are also raising concerns about risks such as data breaches, biases in the inputs and outputs, and overall harm to society.

In 2024, a majority of practitioners (71%) said they had never used AI tools to assist with their work. One year later, the percentage of psychologists who had never used AI tools has dramatically decreased to 44%. Most practitioners reported in 2025 that they have used AI at work at least once, and the percentage who reported using AI tools at work on at least a monthly basis had risen to 29%, up from 11% in 2024. Close to one in 10 (8%) reported using AI tools daily over the past 12 months.

Practitioners continue to report administrative and financial barriers that make it difficult to participate in insurance networks, as more than a third of psychologists (38%) reported that they did not accept any form of health insurance. Among psychologists who did accept a form of insurance, 10% said they had stopped participating in a private or commercial insurance panel within the past year.

While practitioners’ workloads appear to be improving since a spike in demand in the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic, about half (46%) of practitioners reported having no openings for new patients and 40% currently have a waitlist for new clients. A similar percentage (45%) reported an increase in symptom severity among patients. Some practice patterns were marked by increases followed by decreases, such as increases in treatment course length, inability to meet demand, and burnout.

The majority of psychologists said that they had maintained their workload since last year; 59% said they were working the same amount as they did 12 months ago and 56% said they were treating the same number of clients. Only one in five psychologists said they were working more (20%) or less (21%) than they did 12 months ago.

However, stabilizing practice patterns do not necessarily indicate the mental health crisis has resolved; limited capacity for new patients, increases in symptom severity, and increases in length of treatment course restrict psychologists’ ability to fully meet needs for health services. Among psychologists who do not have a waitlist, 22% said they do not have the capacity to manage a waitlist and 9% said that too many people were requesting services.

The 2025 Practitioner Pulse Survey is the most recent survey cycle of a series of annual, online surveys conducted by APA that explores psychologists’ practice patterns. Contact information for the 2025 survey was drawn from APA membership data as well as state licensing board data and used to create a probability-based sample. Of the 30,000 survey invitations sent via email, 26,502 were received, and 1,742 respondents completed the survey for a completion rate of 6.6%. Eligibility criteria included all the following: having a doctoral degree, having a psychologist license, actively working, and treating patients.