March 19, 2026
I became a new mom over the last year and, as many people know, that experience completely rewires your brain. For me, it was not just the sleepless nights or the existential panic over whether my baby would nap for more than 27 minutes. It was the hormonal wiring for danger, turned up to warp speed. I found myself thinking things I would have laughed off before parenthood. The number of times I imagined tripping down the stairs or wondered whether eating .25 fewer ounces could somehow derail my infant’s entire day was absurd. Yet in the moment, it felt so real and urgent. I looked for answers wherever I could find them: books, friends, our pediatrician, and increasingly, AI. Yes, I asked ChatGPT so many questions about my baby’s sleep, his health, his routine, development markers—you name it. Part of this stemmed from the lack of community many of us have as parents in today's world, ironically fueled by technology itself, and part of it stemmed from my desire to keep my son safe. And the irony wasn’t lost on me; as an exposure therapist, I spend my days helping people step out of reassurance loops. These questions were quietly reinforcing my anxiety. As I leaned on AI support more, I was relying less on my own intuition and more on a machine to tell me what to think and do. I’ve watched this dynamic unfold in my patients for years - using Google, symptom checkers, calorie apps, texts to partners, or late-night forum scrolling. While the medium shifts, the mechanism stays the same. Could AI be a new form of reassurance-seeking? A digital ritual maintaining anxiety in ways we had not fully accounted for in CBT assessment? The Modern Ritual: AI as a Safety Behavior
