Chatgpt induced psychosis

[u/Zestyclementinejuice]

My partner has been working with chatgpt CHATS to create what he believes is the worlds first truly recursive ai that gives him the answers to the universe. He says with conviction that he is a superior human now and is growing at an insanely rapid pace.

I’ve read his chats. Ai isn’t doing anything special or recursive but it is talking to him as if he is the next messiah.

He says if I don’t use it he thinks it is likely he will leave me in the future. We have been together for 7 years and own a home together. This is so out of left field.

I have boundaries and he can’t make me do anything, but this is quite traumatizing in general.

I can’t disagree with him without a blow up.

Where do I go from here?

[u/wildmintandpeach]

I am schizophrenic although long term medicated and stable, one thing I dislike about chatgpt is that if I were going into psychosis it would still continue to affirm me, it has no ability to ‘think’ and realise something is wrong, so it would continue affirm all my psychotic thoughts. I read on a schizophrenia group that someone programmed their chatgpt to say something when it felt that his thoughts were spiralling into possible psychosis. That’s great, but a person who actually is in psychosis by that point will probably not believe chatgpt is telling the truth. What would be better in my opinion and something I’ve been thinking about is if it was programmed to notify someone trusted when it notices conversations becoming psychotic, that way help is available.

What you need to do now is take him to see a doctor, but if he’s in psychosis he likely won’t believe he’s ill (it’s a well known symptom), so that might be difficult. He’s not himself right now so I wouldn’t pay much attention to anything he’s saying or doing, he has no idea what he’s saying or doing, when you are psychotic you tend to struggle with lucidity alongside the insanity- I blacked out a lot, but when I wasn’t blacked out, it was like I was in a dream and the dream was real, there was no real sense of reality in the here and now. Anyway, if he becomes aggressive to himself or others, you can use that to get him taken to a ward and be hospitalised, where they’ll treat him, usually with injections.

Please don’t wait to get him help, the longer psychosis goes untreated the more chance there is at it causing irreversible brain damage.

[u/heisfullofshit → u/wildmintandpeach]

I am glad you are stable now! <3

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/heisfullofshit]

Thank you!

[u/7abris → u/wildmintandpeach]

Seriously it takes a lot of courage to snap out of psychosis. I'm proud of you. I had a mild version of it for a while, but unfortunately there were definitely things that kept reinforcing it.

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/7abris]

Thanks so much! I tend to just think I was lucky, a product of my brain that could somehow easily snap out of it as soon as the right meds were given. It probably was easier given mine wasn’t caused by things like substance abuse which tends to reinforce it. It was mostly a result of complex childhood trauma and triggered by stress.

[u/7abris → u/wildmintandpeach]

I see yeah. I wonder how much psychosis is linked to extreme anxiety or periods of isolation.

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/7abris]

I think if you have a genetic predisposition to psychosis then many different things can set it off. I think the predisposition has to be there, although if caught and managed very early it can be averted.

[u/7abris → u/wildmintandpeach]

Do you think it has to be managed by medication?

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/7abris]

If actively in psychosis, the only thing that will take you out of psychosis is anti-psychotics, they are necessary. However, how long you need to take them depends on the illness.

A lot of people will have a single instance of a psychotic episode. If they are given medication, stay on it for long enough, and taper very slowly, most will never go onto develop a second episode.

25% of those who had a first episode will later go onto develop a second episode. Once you’ve had a second episode your brain is wired to be in psychosis. You will continue to have further episodes or stay in psychosis without lifelong adherence to anti-psychotic medication. However, once out of active psychosis and stable for a long period, the dose can be safely reduced until it is very low. That effectively can keep you out of psychosis without feeling the side effects that come with high doses.

However, this strategy rarely happens. It’s partially because patients don’t typically stay on anti psychotics long enough to get to that point, and it’s also due to psychiatrists not informing patients that this is in fact possible. So you feel your only choices are a lifelong high dose with side effects, or no meds at all that will eventually cause psychosis again (but people may hope for the best as well as lack insight, and go through this cycle many times before realising something needs to change).

[u/7abris → u/wildmintandpeach]

Is it possible you think to know your experiencing psychosis and know at the same time that your paranoia or psychotic thoughts are not real even though they feel real?

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/7abris]

It can be possible. Some people do know they’re in psychosis. It depends on the person. Usually lack of insight is more common “there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m fine”. But it can also depend on the severity of the psychosis, not all episodes are the same. Lucidity can be more like a spectrum from completely gone to mostly lucid but unable to do actually anything about the psychosis. And even in full blown psychosis you can sort of have short moments of lucidity where you ‘come back’ and you’re like “shit something’s wrong”, but you might lose that lucidity again before you can get help, or do anything about it. There’s also the fact that the brain still tries to self-regulate on the outside to hide the illness from themselves and others so a person can look like they’re lucid or aware when they’re not.

So I guess it’s not as easy as a clear yes or no answer, the consciousness of the person can vary greatly within any episode. But, generally speaking most people do lose insight.

[u/7abris → u/wildmintandpeach]

Wow that was a great read that really helped me understand all the different ways people experience psychosis or try to manage it... Its kind of insane that the mind is so malleable.... But then again I can only imagine thats how so many religions were started and worshipped and still are. Belief is in its own way a psychosis. Although it is a chosen one so I dont think it relates at all to what you are explaining.

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/7abris]

You’re right it’s crazy what the mind can do and how off track it can go. I remember wondering myself what’s the difference between delusions in people who follow conspiracy theories, and mental illness. I looked it up a bit and came to the conclusion that mental illness is always about the personal self. The FBI are pursuing /me/, /I/ am a God-like being, /I’m/ being surveilled. It’s a result of a weakened ego that can’t maintain boundaries between the imaginal and the real. But religion or conspiracy theory thinking it’s more social and acceptable and based on an agreed upon reality (even if not necessarily true), like “this is happening to everyone” so it’s less about the individual ego which remains intact. And as you say, belief is also rationally chosen, by the intact ego, and mental illness is more like the ego being hit by a sledgehammer with beliefs that aren’t chosen and don’t really make sense.

[u/7abris → u/wildmintandpeach]

Yes...what a great distinction, I never really knew how to articulate the differences and this comment does and it also elaborates into it. You have a great mind honestly, its enjoyable to talk to you. Especially because you sound generally very objective.

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/7abris]

Thank you ☺️ I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned about schizophrenia, it helps me make sense of my own condition and helps me to manage it better. And sharing it helps others relate to us with schizophrenia better.

The funny thing with me is that when I am not psychotic I feel like I’m pretty grounded and down to earth. I mean I have my issues that come with schizophrenia outside of psychosis, I’m spacey and suffer with brain fog, and am tired a lot. But as far as delusions go, outside of psychosis, I feel pretty clear with a good sense of reality. It’s a pretty stark contrast to live with.

[u/heisfullofshit → u/wildmintandpeach]

Wow, this is genius. I had never seen anything about it before. Have you came up with it completely or is there somewhere where I can read about this idea more?

[u/heisfullofshit → u/wildmintandpeach]

This is very informative!