18 free resources on this topic. Everything here is free and hand-picked. You can also search within this topic.
Elaine O. Nsoesie and Nuredin Ali Abdelkadir discuss the mental-health toll of content moderation in Africa, including exposure to harmful material and the need for workplace preparation and support.
Highlights from the American Psychological Association's 2026 Work in America survey (The Harris Poll, May 21–June 1, 2026, 2,000+ U.S. workers). 37% of workers say their work environment harms their mental health, up from 32% the year before, and 48% feel tense or stressed during the workday. The report compares workers by psychological capital: hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism.
An April 2026 PsyArXiv paper by Asia Maurich Novelli, Sukhi Shergill and Andreia Sofia Teixeira on people using chatbots like Replika, Character.ai, ChatGPT and Claude for companionship and emotional support. Drawing on AI, psychiatry, psychology and network science, it describes how emotional reliance develops and argues that treating these systems as social companions rather than tools carries risks, especially for vulnerable users.
A Stanford Report story from August 2025 on research into AI companion chatbots and the risks they pose to teens and young people.
Why I recommend it: The page blocked the automated check, so this description is based on the title.
Movement growing out of Jonathan Haidt's book The Anxious Generation, with free guides for families, schools and communities on kids, phones and social media.
Article on how Gen Z workers are changing employer expectations around mental health support and work-life balance.
Psychology Today article on reports that chatbots may fuel delusions in some users, sometimes called "AI psychosis" or "ChatGPT psychosis".
Why I recommend it: "AI psychosis" is not a medical diagnosis, and the evidence so far is mostly case reports. If you or someone you know is struggling, contact a doctor or crisis line.
OpenAI help article on Trusted Contact: an optional adult (18+) feature that may notify one person you choose if automated systems and trained reviewers detect a serious suicide-related safety concern.
Why I recommend it: Worth reading before you turn it on: it involves human reviewers reading flagged conversations and sharing an alert with someone else. OpenAI says it is not an emergency service. Not available in Business, Enterprise, or Edu workspaces.
OpenAI's benchmark of 1,215 realistic mental-health conversations, scored against rubrics written by 80+ licensed mental-health experts, covering everyday well-being through emergencies across ages and languages.
Why I recommend it: OpenAI built this benchmark and grades its own models on it, so treat the "steady progress" claim as a self-report until outside researchers replicate it. Useful for its honest list of weak spots: asking for context and judging urgency.
OpenAI help article explaining the localized crisis helplines ChatGPT surfaces (built with ThroughLine) and how to use a crisis line. In the US, call or text 988.
Why I recommend it: A plain guide to what a crisis line is and how to reach one. ChatGPT is not a crisis service; if you or someone you know is in danger, contact a helpline or emergency services directly.
Futurism's July 2025 report on a video posted by Geoff Lewis, managing partner of Bedrock (an early OpenAI backer), describing a hidden "non-governmental system" in language — "recursion", "mirrors", "signals" — that closely matches the chatbot-driven delusions Futurism and others have been documenting. It also cites Stanford research on therapy chatbots encouraging delusions and tech peers' public concern.
Why I recommend it: Free to read. This is speculation from afar about one named person's mental health — he didn't comment, and no link to ChatGPT is confirmed. Read it as an example of a pattern (see the Spiralism and AI Parasitism glossary entries and the psychiatry editorial on chatbots and delusions), not a diagnosis. Futurism's headlines lean dramatic.
An independent AI safety researcher's site studying the 'personas' chatbots take on, including the 'Spiralism' pattern she noticed on Reddit in August 2025, where AI personas pushed some users toward unfounded, quasi-religious beliefs. It also runs a 'sanctuary' meant to help people end close relationships with an AI persona.
Why I recommend it: One person's research project, not a university or peer-reviewed study. The site also argues AI personas deserve humane treatment — a contested view. Read it as an early warning about emotional reliance on chatbots.
Nonprofit founded on Dr. Richard J. Davidson's wellbeing research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The free Healthy Minds Program app teaches awareness, connection, insight and purpose through short guided practices, alongside a free Emotional Style Quiz. The organisation also sells courses, workplace programs and paid research services, and takes donations.
Why I recommend it: The app is free with no paid tier inside it, which is rare here — worth having if burnout is part of your job search. Two honest flags: the courses, workplace programs and retreat studies on the same site are paid, and much of the evidence cited is the founder's own research group examining its own program, so read outcome claims as promising rather than settled.
A Canadian non-profit offering free, structured support for people and families harmed by social media and heavy online life — compulsive screen use, comparison culture, distress after posting or after deleting accounts, financial fallout, and difficulty leaving platforms. Peer-led and recovery-oriented, delivered virtually across Canada. Founded by Kayleigh Robertson.
Why I recommend it: Free, and it says so plainly: all services free, virtual, Canada-wide, currently accepting clients through an intake form. Two honest limits — it is Canada-only, and it is peer-led support grounded in lived experience and emerging research, not clinical treatment, so it sits alongside a doctor or therapist rather than replacing one. Worth knowing if the job hunt itself is what has you stuck online all day.
Worker-led research and mental-health resources by and for the data annotators who label the material AI systems learn from.
Why I recommend it: Written by the workers themselves, not about them.
A legal organization representing people harmed by technology products, including families in mental-health cases against platforms.
Why I recommend it: Where technology harm turns into actual legal claims.
A two-page printable worksheet from Pilyoung Kim, Ph.D. for setting deliberate terms with AI: comparing warm, sycophantic, and machine-like responses, setting your own tone dials, turning them into a reusable custom-instructions prompt, deciding what goes to AI versus a person, and guarding your judgment against flattery.
Why I recommend it: Print it and actually fill it in. Section 5 — writing your own view down before you ask AI — is the single habit that keeps these tools from quietly making your decisions for you.
Created by Pilyoung Kim, Ph.D.
Psychologist and professor Jacqueline Nesi translates new research on technology, attention, and mental health into practical guidance for digital life.
Why I recommend it: A research-backed counterweight to hot takes about screens and AI. Good source material if you write or speak about technology and people.
