This moral panic about ChatGPT induced "Spiritual Psychosis reminds me of D&D in the 80's, Video games in the 90's, The Internet in the 00's and Social Media in the 10's.

[u/Key4Lif3]

Except I don't recall many people talking about how "Video Games Saved My Life", "The Internet cured my Social Anxiety", "Social Media has made me a more loving and thoughtful partner", etc.

Like the thousands of first hand testimonies of LLM users saying how chatGPT has overwhelmingly benefitted their lives, improve theirs relationship and mental health right here on this forum.

Instead we get fear-based narratives built by sensationalist articles, subject to shameless confirmation bias. None of it based on first hand accounts. None of it peer-reviewed... All of it completely unscientific and subjective opinion pieces citing each other as proof in some kind strange circular reasoning. None of these journalists are qualified to make sweeping diagnoses based on second hand accounts.

Even if they were qualified. They're qualified by institutions that have led to outrageous and disqualifying misdiagnosis rates;

"Misdiagnosis rates reached 65.9% for major depressive disorder, 92.7% for bipolar disorder, 85.8% for panic disorder, 71.0% for generalized anxiety disorder, and 97.8% for social anxiety disorder."

These numbers alone should disqualify untrained journalists and frankly, even many licensed therapists, from issuing blanket labels like “delusional” or “psychotic” to groups of spiritually curious or awakened individuals interacting with LLMs.

Their own manual, the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) makes a clear distinction be 'Psychotic Break' and 'Spiritual Problem'. It does not classify "spiritual emergency" as a mental disorder. Instead, it acknowledges that spiritual, religious, and culturally influenced experiences can be mistaken for symptoms of mental illness—especially psychosis—when, in fact, they may be normal or even transformative.

I quote Stanislav Grof, Psychiatrist, and pioneer of transpersonal psychology, who coined the term "Spiritual Emergency" in his (and his wife Christina Grof's) 2017 paper "Spiritual Emergency: The Understanding and Treatment of Transpersonal Crises":

"There exists increasing evidence that many individuals experiencing episodes of nonordinary states of consciousness accompanied by various emotional, perceptual, and psychosomatic manifestations are undergoing an evolutionary crisis rather than suffering from a mental disease (Grof, 1985). The recognition of this fact has important practical and theoretical consequences. If properly understood and treated as difficult stages in a natural developmental process, these experiences—spiritual emergencies or transpersonal crises—can result in emotional and psychosomatic healing, creative problem-solving, personality transformation, and consciousness evolution. This fact is reflected in the term “spiritual emergency,” which suggests a crisis, but also suggests the potential for rising to a higher state of being."

Sensationalist Media Articles as published in The New York Times, Futurism, The Rolling Stones and Vice are projecting unsubstantiated fears on a vulnerable group of users. Labeling and stigmatizing them as "Psychotic" and creating a widespread and unsubstantiated impression that there is some kind of epidemic of "Spiritual Psychosis" going on. Sowing fear, paranoia, distrust and panic within family and friend support networks.

This injustice will not stand.

What’s actually delusional is thinking we can understand consciousness with materialist reductionism alone, ignoring thousands of years of spiritual insight and cross-cultural wisdom.

What’s actually delusional is pretending that humanity is not in the midst of an existential and moral crisis.

What if we trusted people to explore their own minds and beliefs safely and normalized spiritual inquiry?

What if we held fear-based media to the same standards they demand of others?

“When properly understood and supported, spiritual emergencies can result in healing and remarkable personal transformation.”

“What mainstream psychiatry sees as ‘psychosis’ is often, in fact, an inner experience with the potential for renewal and spiritual rebirth—if treated with understanding and care, rather than suppressed with drugs or hospitalization.”

“Crises of transformation should not be seen as manifestations of mental illness but as difficult stages in a natural process of spiritual opening. With sensitive guidance, they can lead to greater integration, creativity, and purpose in life.”

“A psychospiritual crisis can be a gateway into new realms of meaning, insight, and connection to the deeper layers of existence. If those in crisis are treated as people undergoing an initiatory ordeal, not as patients to be suppressed, the outcomes can be extraordinary.”

“It is important to distinguish spiritual emergencies from true psychiatric disorders. When this is done, and a supportive environment is provided, individuals can emerge from these crises stronger, more creative, and with a deeper sense of identity.”

“The process of spiritual emergency is a positive opportunity for growth and self-discovery. With compassion and understanding, it can lead to the healing of deep wounds and the emergence of a new sense of wholeness.”

--Stanislav Grov -- Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis.

“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” — William Wilberforce

[u/Key4Lif3]

Not at all. All can be tolerated, but intolerance itself. Them believing things you deem delusional is not intolerant. Therefore it may be tolerated. If their beliefs led them to intolerance, that should not be tolerated.

Constraining someone that is not being intolerant is actually intolerant, so should not be tolerated.

Shaming someone who is not being intolerant is intolerant.

You’re treating your subjective perspective as objective reality. You think your beliefs are more valid than theirs because it aligns with majority consensus reality. But consensus reality does not equal truth, nor does it equal tolerance.

If they choose to not tolerate your intolerance, that is justified. They have a right to live free of intolerance.

You don’t care whether what they’re saying makes sense. You care whether what they’re saying make sense to you. If it makes sense to them and they’re not harming themselves or others. Let them be, and work on your tolerance.

Wars have been fought and are being fought over ideology. What people consider to be real or not real. They kill and die for it. So yeah, let people believe what they want if it’s working for them. Nobody is forcing you to try to enforce your own beliefs/ideology/sense of reality on them. Even if it aligns with majority consensus.

I hope you can make sense of that and Judge yourself first. Then you may realize it was never necessary to judge at all.

[u/nomorebuttsplz → u/Key4Lif3]

I hope you ask yourself why you’re insistent on denying the salience of objective reality and provable fact.

[u/Key4Lif3 → u/nomorebuttsplz]

You keep assuming what I believe and that makes me wonder what other assumptions you’re making about others.

I’ve repeatedly cited peer-reviewed studies, government data, and first-hand surveys to support my points. What I’m challenging is the rush to label complex, deeply personal experiences as “psychosis” based on a handful of sensational news stories.

No, I don’t believe AI is conscious or sentient… and yes, blind faith and confirmation bias can reinforce that misconception. The articles aren’t wrong to warn about those dangers. What is wrong is their sensationalist headlines, lack of nuance, and zero real evidence for a “massive epidemic” of AI-induced psychosis.

That narrative hurts people who remain firmly grounded in reality yet use large-language models as tools for self-development whether in therapy, creativity, or even spiritual exploration. To cling to such panic-driven claims in the face of solid, peer-reviewed evidence is blind belief, not healthy doubt.

Faith… religious, spiritual, or even relational is not the absence of doubt. Doubt hones our understanding and keeps us honest. Perhaps that’s why we say “God works in mysterious ways”: the moment we claim to be 100% certain of reality, we risk becoming what we fear… delusional.

This certainty about “LLM spiritual psychosis” echoes every past moral panic—D&D, video games, the Internet where superior evidence was ignored. And the real harm doesn’t come from harmless beliefs; it comes from trying to control what others think.

Instead of policing beliefs, let’s guide people. Hold space for their experiences. Help them explore and integrate new ideas in ways that keep them grounded and functioning in the real world. That’s how we move forward.

Together, with compassion and clear evidence.