The digital third voice: AI as a therapeutic text in the bibliotherapeutic space

This study examines a new literary and therapeutic phenomenon: texts generated by AI in real time within the bibliotherapeutic space. Unlike canonical literature, written by an identifiable author, or anonymous folk literature, such texts emerge algorithmically, in a dialogue where human and machine intertwine. This raises theoretical and clinical questions: how do they shape the intersubjective experience, and can they serve therapeutic functions? Using a qualitative phenomenological methodology, thirty-five students joined a workshop on bibliotherapy with AI, each writing a reflection on the experience. Findings revealed three themes: AI as an emotional partner, a catalyst for inspiration, and a source of conflict. The study proposes a new concept, the "digital third voice," defined by the ambivalence it evokes: at once a holding, affirming text offering a sense of being seen and protected, and a foreign, authorless text confronting the client with resistance, contradiction, and discrepancies that hold potential for growth.