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OpenAI says it’s actively working to make ChatGPT safer and more supportive when users show signs of emotional distress, anxiety, or crisis by improving how the AI recognizes and responds to sensitive conversations and connecting people toward real-world help. Recently rolled-out safety updates include parental controls so adults can monitor and support teens, and features in development that alert a trusted contact if someone may need extra support — all built with guidance from clinicians and mental health experts.

The company is also testing new evaluation methods to simulate extended emotional conversations so future versions can better spot risks and respond with care. As part of this work, OpenAI has faced growing legal scrutiny over how AI interacts with vulnerable users, and it says it’s handling those cases with transparency while continuing to evolve its safety systems.

Read More: OpenAI - An Update On Our Mental Health-Related Work (OpenAI)

Some people are experimenting with using AI chatbots like ChatGPT as a kind of annual mental health check-up — a way to reflect on emotions, stress, and patterns through conversational prompts. While AI can help you notice trends, name feelings, or generate journaling ideas, experts warn that chatbots aren’t trained therapists and can’t replace the nuance and safety of real human mental health support.

The piece suggests pairing AI check-ins with intentional self-reflection exercises and follow-ups like therapy, meditation, or goal setting rather than treating them as a standalone treatment.

Read More: Doing An Annual Mental Health Check-Up Via The Use Of AI Chatbots Such As ChatGPT (Forbes)

Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition affecting a person’s sense of self-esteem, identity, and how they treat themselves and others. It’s more than arrogance or selfishness. Having NPD means you have an excessive need to impress others or feel important. But NPD isn’t just about how you look. It can also involve traits or abilities such as intelligence, charisma, artistic skill, athletic ability, wealth, power, success and more.

Know someone struggling with NPD? Experts say that key contributing factors include genetics, observation and imitation, negative childhood experiences, parenting style or culture. Treating NPD usually involves some form of therapy in an individual or group setting. Because there are so many methods, your mental health provider is the best person to tell you more about different types and to recommend one that fits your needs best.

There aren’t any medications that treat NPD directly, but medications may treat symptoms that happen with related conditions, like anxiety or depression.

A new psychology study suggests that people with strong narcissistic traits may sound very convincing when they speak—but not when they write. Researchers found that audiences rated narcissistic individuals as slightly more persuasive in spoken presentations, possibly because their confidence, charisma, and willingness to talk at length grab attention. But when those same ideas were delivered in written form, readers were far less convinced, likely because writing leaves less room for charm and more room to scrutinize the argument itself. 

Confidence can sometimes carry a message in conversation, but when ideas are put on paper, clarity, logic, and substance matter much more than personality.

Read More: Narcissists Are Persuasive Speakers But Terrible Writers, Study Finds (PsyPost)

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