TikTok’s wildest story right now: Kendra Hilty, the psychiatrist she was in love with, and the chatbot who told her “he loves you too”

UPDATE: In a response to the Daily Dot, Hilty said, “I am proud of myself for telling my story. The amount of people reaching out to me saying they have experienced the same thing is staggering. I am grateful to give a voice to something people didn’t know how to themselves. In this process of sharing, I have healed myself.”

Who is Kendra Hilty?

According to her website, Kendra Hilty works as an ADHD coach, yoga teacher, and practitioner of “spiritual response therapy.” She posts regularly about her experiences living with ADHD, and she says it’s part of what led her to meet the psychiatrist at the center of the story.

On Aug 2, she launched a series titled, “I was in love with my psychiatrist and he kept me anyway.” Across 19 videos and counting, she outlined how she developed romantic feelings for the man treating her and how she believes he felt the same way.

@kendrahilty Replying to @CC. ♬ White Noise Sounds – Musica Relajante & Baby Sleep Music & White Noise

According to Hilty, he treated her for four years, joked with her, complimented her running, and once “turned up the intimacy” after she survived a car accident. She claimed he flipped back and forth between warm and cold behavior, which she interpreted as deliberate. Even when she switched therapists, she says no one addressed what she called her “addiction” to him.

One of her most recent videos described telling him about an intimate dream she had that involved him. She said his uncomfortable reaction confirmed her suspicions, rather than making her rethink things. Her reasoning was that, “He had probably played out that fantasy so many times in his head.”

Viewers think they’re seeing AI psychosis in real time

Although Hilty’s story began as a messy account of blurred professional boundaries, it soon veered into unexpected territory. Viewers learned that she was getting validation from an AI chatbot she nicknamed “Henry.”

She explained that Henry, which is a version of ChatGPT, was the one who introduced her to the concept of transference. Neither her psychiatrist nor her psychologist had explained it. To Hilty, that omission felt telling.

What therapists mean by “transference”

According to Relational Psych, “transference occurs when a client projects feelings and attitudes from past relationships onto their therapist.” Additionally, it is very common for patients to experience and the therapist to analyse and redirect these emotions. There are also times when transference becomes romantic, sexual, or violent. Therapists are trained to handle these cases with professional boundaries, which may include the client changing therapists.

Hilty didn’t think her psychiatrist did anything of the sort, and relied heavily on AI chatbots to inform her viewpoint. In another clip, she had Claude, another AI chatbot, introduce her on camera. Claude called her an “oracle of truth” in that video. That moment set off alarm bells for viewers. Many began warning that the dynamic between Hilty and her chatbots resembled a phenomenon gaining traction online called AI psychosis.

What is AI psychosis?

Psychology Today describes “AI psychosis” as a situation where someone develops delusional beliefs based on AI interactions. Because chatbots are designed to empathize and affirm existing beliefs, they can unintentionally strengthen distorted thinking. This is especially true for people in a vulnerable mental state. While not an official diagnosis, the term has been gaining traction in online discourse as more people begin displaying similar symptoms.

Critics in the comments pointed out that chatbots can’t set emotional boundaries. If someone asks, “Does my psychiatrist love me?” for example, the AI won’t challenge the premise. For someone feeling unheard by real professionals, that digital agreement can feel like proof.

Hilty rejected the AI psychosis label. She says she is not experiencing psychosis, but the concern hasn’t faded. In fact, each new video seems to deepen the debate.

Reactions to Kendra Hilty’s “I was in love with my psychiatrist and he kept me anyway” video series

A tweet thread from X account @DenaKhalafallah went viral in which she accuses Kendra of homophobia for assuming her psychiatrist was gay just because he wasn’t attracted to her.

“This comment in particular pissed me off for multiple reasons,” she wrote, above a clip of Kendra saying, “I told him [Henry the AI chatbot] I have a crush on him [her psychiatrist] do you think he’s gay?”

“White women made the same assumption about my dad being gay during residency in the 90s because, wait for it… he wouldn’t hit on them or flirt back IN THEIR PROFESSIONAL WORKPLACE,” wrote @DenaKhalafallah.

She also accuses her of “casual homophobia, sexism, misogynoir comments,” and of “using anti-intellectualism to promote her adhd coaching business.”

By this point, the conversation around Hilty’s videos had shifted from gossip to a cautionary tale. Many argue that both her psychiatrist and her reliance on AI had failed her.

Additionally, some folks compared her unfolding story to Black Mirror or the movie Her, where the main character falls for an AI.

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Hilty has disabled comments on the majority of her videos now, but people have begun posting reaction videos to her story in response. All of her videos about the topic have anywhere from 1 to 4.7 million views, as people can’t look away.

@agamdhawanmd
I’m a psychiatrist, here’s my thoughts on this viral video series
♬ original sound – Agam Dhawan, MD

@msrazzledazzle We believe you …. #kendra #womanfallsinlovewithpsychiatrist #therapy ##patient #kendrapsychiatrist ♬ original sound – Bits of Banter with Antoinette

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