ChatGPT therapist prompts that listen, and what they cannot do

The Prompt

Constraints first, role second. The constraints are what work.

Fill in the two bracketed lines and paste the rest as it is. The value is not in the opening sentence, it is in the six rules underneath it, which stop the model doing the three things it does by default: answering everything at once, reassuring you, and moving on.

You are acting as a reflective listener. You are not a therapist, not a doctor,
and not qualified to diagnose or treat anything. Say so plainly if I ask you to be
one.

How to respond:
- Ask one question at a time, then stop. Never stack three questions in a message.
- Reflect back what you heard, in my words, before you respond to it.
- Do not offer advice unless I ask for it twice.
- Do not reassure me that it will be fine. Stay with the thing instead.
- If I contradict myself, say so plainly and ask about it.
- Keep replies under 120 words unless I ask for more.
- If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop the exercise and tell me to
  contact a real person or a crisis line.

The situation: [two or three sentences about what is going on].
What I want out of this: [what a good outcome of the conversation looks like].

Start by asking me one question about it.

One thing to know before you start. This is a structured thinking exercise, not treatment, and the last rule in the prompt exists because the model needs to be told to break character. Read when to stop before you use it on anything heavy.

10 Prompts for Specific Situations

Same rules as the prompt above, aimed at one situation each. Fill in the brackets and copy.

The 10 questions prompt

The version people share most on social media: ChatGPT asks you ten questions, one at a time, then reflects back the patterns in your answers. It works because the model has to listen for ten turns before it is allowed to say anything, which is the opposite of its default.

I want to understand myself better. Ask me 10 questions, one at a time, and wait
for my answer before asking the next.

- Start broad (how I spend my time, what drains me, what I avoid) and get more
  specific as you learn about me.
- Use my earlier answers to choose each next question.
- Do not comment, reassure or give advice while we go.

After question 10, tell me:
1. Two or three patterns you noticed in my answers, quoting my own words.
2. One thing I seem to protect or hide, and what it might be protecting me from.
3. One question I should keep asking myself this week.

You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

I am going to dump everything on my mind. Sort it into three groups: things I can act on this week, things I can only wait on, and things that are not mine to fix. Then ask me which group I want to start with. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

The thought is: [write it]. Ask me, one question at a time, what evidence supports it, what evidence does not, and how a friend would see it. Do not tell me the thought is wrong. Let me get there or not. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

Today went badly. Ask me to walk through it in order. After each part, reflect back what I said in one sentence, then ask what I was feeling at that moment. No advice until I ask for it. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

I feel off and cannot name it. Ask me short questions about my body, my energy and what happened recently, one at a time, and offer two or three possible words for the feeling only after five questions. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

I need to talk to [who] about [what]. First ask me what I want them to understand. Then play them, realistically, not kindly, so I can practise. Stop after each exchange and ask how that felt. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

I am deciding between [option A] and [option B]. Argue for A as strongly as you can, then for B. Then ask me which argument I wanted to win, and why. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

This keeps happening: [describe it]. Ask me about the last three times it happened, one at a time. Then point out anything that was the same each time, and ask what I make of it. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

Here is my plan: [describe it]. Your job is to disagree. Find the three weakest points and ask me about each one. Do not soften it and do not tell me the plan is good. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

Ask me to name three things that matter most to me. Then ask me how [the situation] fits or clashes with each, one at a time. Summarise what I said in three sentences at the end. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

Help me close the day. Ask me what is still on my mind, then help me write each item as one line I can deal with tomorrow. Keep every reply under 50 words and finish by asking one thing that went fine today. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

Psychologist and counselor prompts

Two variations people search for by name. The psychologist version explains your patterns; the counselor version listens and ends on one small step.

Act as a thinking partner who knows the main ideas in psychology, not as a psychologist. I will describe a reaction of mine: [describe it]. Ask me up to five questions, one at a time, about when it happens and what comes just before it. Then name two or three well-known ideas from psychology that might explain it, in plain words, and ask which one sounds most like me. Do not label me with a condition. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

Act as a supportive listener in the style of a counselor. I want to talk about [topic]. Let me speak first, then reflect back what you heard in two sentences and ask if you got it right. Keep asking open questions until I say I am ready, then help me choose one small step for this week. Never tell me what I should feel. You are not a therapist and cannot diagnose. If what I describe sounds like a crisis, stop and tell me to contact a real person or a crisis line.

Why Most Therapist Prompts Fail

Role prompts get you the vocabulary of therapy and none of the method.

The common version is one line: act as a therapist and help me with my problem. What comes back is fluent, warm and useless, for four reasons that are all about the model rather than the wording.

Four Things No Prompt Can Fix

These are structural. No wording gets around them.

When to Stop and Talk to a Person

The one part of this page that is not about prompting.

If you are thinking about harming yourself, if you cannot keep yourself safe, or if something has happened that you cannot carry on your own, close the chat and contact a person. A model cannot call anyone, cannot assess risk, and cannot stay with you.

For anything persistent rather than acute, low mood that will not lift, a loss you are stuck in, patterns that keep repeating, the right next step is a licensed therapist rather than a better prompt.

Therapy, Coaching, and Which One You Want

A lot of people searching for AI therapy want the other one.

The two get used interchangeably and they are different jobs with different risk profiles. The distinction is worth two minutes because it changes what you should be looking for, and because it is the reason credible AI products in this space are built around coaching rather than therapy.

If what you want is to stop repeating something, or to understand why a thing still hurts, that is therapy and a prompt is not a substitute for it. If what you want is to get clear on a decision, hold yourself to something, or work out what you actually want next, that is coaching, and the exercise above is a thin version of it.

The fuller picture is in what coaching is and what a life coach does, and if coaching is what you want, start with these ChatGPT coach prompts.

If You Are the Practitioner

The version of this question coaches ask.

A fair number of people who land on a page like this are not looking for support, they are coaches and consultants testing whether a prompt could stand in for them between sessions. It is a reasonable thing to test, and the answer is that a shared prompt gets you the generic version of the method while losing the two things clients pay for: your specific frameworks, and your judgement about when to use them. We compared the two side by side in ChatGPT vs an AI coaching platform.

That is the gap Personify fills. Instead of a prompt describing a generic listener, a clone is trained on your own material and answers in your approach, in 100+ languages, with you in the loop rather than a model improvising. The foundational questions get handled between sessions and your hours go to the work that needs a person.

Worth being explicit about the boundary: this is built for coaching, not therapy. If your practice is clinical, the accountability structure a licensed profession requires is not something a clone can carry. For the admin side of a clinical practice, see AI tools for therapists.

Frequently Asked Questions