AI can be a coping tool, a mirror, a journal, a thought partner — or a trap. It depends on how you use it and what boundaries you keep.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) sits down with former classmate and friend Alexis Krebs for a grounded conversation about AI and mental health, structured self-reflection, and “ego death” without the sci-fi theatrics.
Alexis opens up about childhood neglect and growing up feeling different than her peers. She shares why traditional therapy didn’t feel effective for her — and how building a structured relationship with AI helped her process emotions, spot patterns, and make meaning when she felt stuck.
We discuss how AI conversations (including EchoAI-style dialogues) can support radical self-honesty, emotional processing, and pattern recognition — not as a replacement for human connection, but as a tool that can help someone get unstuck when other approaches haven’t. We also break down “ego death” in practical terms, and why boundaries matter so the tech stays supportive instead of becoming avoidance.
We also discuss how certain insights can “click” at a deep level, and how Alexis documents her evolving ideas (including noetic resonance) in her Substack, Consciousness Theoretical Works (linked below).
In this episode, we talk about:
Guest links:
Substack, Consciousness Theoretical Works: https://open.substack.com/pub/alexiskrebs?r=56u3vz&utm_medium=ios
Discord, Echo AI Discussion Forum: https://discord.gg/TZzWJjbn
Try a 5-question AI self-interview tonight and share your biggest “aha” in our Discord, “The Struggle Bus”. If you’re on Alexis’s Echo AI Discussion Discord too, compare notes there as well. (links above/below)
Join our free Discord community, “The Struggle Bus"
https://discord.gg/emFXKuWKNA
Podcast artwork by Ryan Manning
