E182 | Can AI Cause Psychosis? (w/ Dr. Tom Pollak)

Today Dr Alex speaks with consultant neuropsychiatrist and immunopsychiatry researcher Dr Tom Pollack about one of the strangest and most urgent questions emerging in mental health today: can AI chatbots contribute to delusions, psychosis, conspiracy thinking and changes in belief?They discuss the rise of so-called “AI psychosis” or AI-associated delusions, and how prolonged conversations with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini can sometimes drift into troubling territory. They also ask deeper questions such as: what does AI reveal about human belief itself? Dr Alex and Dr Pollack discuss motivated reasoning, charisma, loneliness, meaning-making, spirituality, folie à deux, archetypes, and why humans may be more vulnerable to persuasive technologies than we like to think.Lastly they consider who may be most at risk, and what psychiatrists, therapists, families and users should be paying attention to as AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life.BBC Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arx-sqtggdUInterviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training. Dr. Blunstone is a registrar psychiatrist and psychotherapist working in North London. Check out The Thinking Mind Blog on Substack: https://thinkingmindblog.substack.com/If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for psychological coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.Give feedback here - [email protected] Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast