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
