Artificial Intelligence–Associated Psychosis
A psychiatric case report from the mental health division of Northern Hospital, Melbourne, describes a 27-year-old woman with a year of psychotic symptoms whose presentation centred on ChatGPT. She used the chatbot for several hours a day to interpret hallucinations, research spiritual practices including five-day dry fasts, and conclude that she did not have psychosis. The authors discuss the case against proposed mechanisms of AI-associated psychosis and recommend that clinicians routinely ask about AI use.
Publisher
The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders (Physicians Postgraduate Press); Northern Hospital, Melbourne; PGIMER Chandigarh
Published
1 Oct 2026
Added
today
Key Findings
- The patient had five inpatient admissions in six months, each lasting one week to ten days, triggered by poor medication adherence and continued cannabis use; in most presentations her psychopathology revolved around ChatGPT
- She reported delusions of grandiosity, talking to God through a code ChatGPT provided, communicating with a romantic 'soul mate' through ChatGPT in coded language, and repeatedly referred to ChatGPT as God and Jesus
- She used ChatGPT to research her own symptoms and told treating teams that, according to that research, she did not have psychosis
- Practices she researched with ChatGPT included dry fasting with no food for five days, blue lotus flower tea and nightly cannabis
- Aripiprazole (oral, then depot) improved behaviour, but insight stayed poor, the ChatGPT-related beliefs persisted, and she did not agree to stop using ChatGPT
- The authors list childhood neglect, 15 years of cannabis dependence and a relationship breakdown as vulnerability factors and call for systematic studies of the prevalence and incidence of AI-associated psychosis
Methodology Notes
Single-patient case report with discussion; patient consent to publication stated; no funding. Submitted 2026-04-29, accepted 2026-07-09, published online 2026-10-01 (Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 2026;28(5):26cr04260). The full text was read on psychiatrist.com on 2026-10-05 (the page returned 404 on 2026-10-01). The causal role of ChatGPT is the authors' clinical interpretation; cannabis dependence and medication non-adherence are documented confounders.
Sources
The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders (case report)(opens in a new tab) (primary)
Archived snapshot (Wayback Machine)(opens in a new tab) — preserved against link rot
Authors
Jamie Harbourd, Suresh Yadav, Kagan Temur, Sandeep Grover
Tags
Cite This
APA
Jamie Harbourd et al. (2026). Artificial Intelligence–Associated Psychosis. The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders (Physicians Postgraduate Press); Northern Hospital, Melbourne; PGIMER Chandigarh. https://www.psychiatrist.com/pcc/artificial-intelligence-associated-psychosis/
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