The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy Training Therapists in the Age of AI: Preventing Deskilling and Teaching Clinical Judgment
7 snips
Feb 23, 2026 A deep dive into how AI can create the illusion of clinical competence and quietly erode core therapeutic skills. Discussions cover the systemic causes of deskilling, the need for struggle and ambiguity in learning, and supervision strategies to preserve clinical judgment. Practical ideas include adversarial critique of AI outputs, naked practice without tools, and requiring trainees to trace clinical logic.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
AI Creates An Illusion Of Competence
- AI creates an illusion of competence that masks gaps in clinical reasoning and judgment.
- Curt Widhalm warns this competence paradox leads novices to prioritize correct outputs over learning the underlying clinical process.
Deskilling Is A Structural Problem
- Deskilling from AI is structural, not just individual laziness, driven by incentives for efficiency and outcome metrics.
- Curt and Katie link pressures from insurance, funding, and education to increased reliance on shortcuts like AI.
Transcribing Sessions Built Clinical Muscles
- Curt required supervisees to transcribe recorded sessions to force them to listen and notice drift, missed content, and their own interventions.
- He then had them code statements (reflective listening, Socratic questions) and explain the rationale to build clinical scaffolding.