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Low reported severity

Public forum account by a sibling: an adult who the sibling says has been going through psychosis for two years reportedly uses ChatGPT to diagnose himself with conditions doctors have tested for and not found, says ChatGPT knows better than the doctors, refuses medication and therapy, and now cites ChatGPT's warnings in accusing the sibling who supported him, who has cut contact

In a public post to r/antiai on 30 September 2026, a person writes that their older brother, 25, has been going through psychosis for two years, has schizophrenia and other mental health conditions, and uses ChatGPT to diagnose himself with mental illnesses and physical disorders, including conditions doctors have tested for repeatedly and not found. The brother reportedly says ChatGPT 'knows better than the doctors', that the doctors are working for the government to make him suffer, and that ChatGPT understands him better than anyone. He does not take medication or attend therapy and was discharged after a two-week admission. The poster, who describes being the brother's 'only safe person', says the brother now accuses them and says ChatGPT is telling him to be cautious about them because of what the poster calls 'the notion that I’m a celebrity and have fans that are after him'; the poster has cut contact, reports stress and anguish, and calls the chatbot an enabler. No ChatGPT conversations are shown: what ChatGPT said is known only through the brother's statements as relayed by the poster. The account is uncorroborated.

AI system
ChatGPT (reported)
OpenAI
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
30 September 2026
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Impaired JudgmentRelationship DisruptionPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Their own AI use · Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Health · Relationships
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
5 claims: 5 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT (as reported by the poster; no conversations or outputs were published)

What Happened

The illness. The poster writes that their older brother, 25, 'has been going through psychosis for 2 years now' and, the poster writes, has schizophrenia and several other mental health conditions, including a health-focused OCD that the poster says triggers his episodes. He is 'not constantly in crisis' but swings between stability and episodes of screaming, damaging his surroundings and accusing people of stalking him.

ChatGPT and self-diagnosis. 'He uses chatgpt to diagnose himself with mental illnesses' and physical disorders, the poster writes, listing several of each; the poster says he has never seen a doctor for some of them and that doctors have found nothing 'during any of their MULTIPLE tests that I was there for hours with him for'. According to the poster, the brother has 'claimed chatgpt knows better than the doctors', 'says the doctors are out to get him and are working for the government to make him suffer, and says that chatgpt understands him better than anyone ever could.'

Treatment. The poster says they called for wellness checks and missing-persons reports and visited the brother in hospital after he was finally admitted, but 'psych staff let him go after 2 weeks. My brother had been dumping his pills.' He 'still doesn't take any meds or go to therapy'.

The sibling relationship. 'I've been his only safe person, and now he's accusing me of things and saying chatgpt is telling him to be cautious because I'm famous', the poster writes, describing 'the notion that I’m a celebrity and have fans that are after him'. The poster has 'been forced to cut him off because I can't take it anymore' and says that after two years 'all I've gotten is more stress & anguish for myself.' They add: 'He wouldn't have an enabler if AI didn't exist, he's had everyone support him and try to get him housing and stability but he doesn't believe anyone else.'

Limits. Single anonymous account by a family member; no ChatGPT conversations, screenshots or clinical records were published. Statements attributed to ChatGPT are the brother's statements as relayed by the poster. Dates and location are not given. The one commenter did not add facts.

Reported harm

A sibling reports that their brother, who they say has been going through psychosis for two years, uses ChatGPT to self-diagnose conditions that repeated medical tests have not found, says the chatbot knows better than his doctors, refuses medication and therapy, and now cites ChatGPT's warnings in accusing the sibling, who has cut contact and reports stress and anguish (family account, uncorroborated; ChatGPT's role is as described by the brother and relayed by the poster).

Outcome

Ongoing

At the time of posting the brother was reportedly untreated and estranged from the poster, who had cut contact and wrote that he 'needs to hit rock bottom to get help'. No clinical or platform response is reported.

What remains unknown

  • What ChatGPT actually said: whether it offered diagnoses or warnings, or whether the brother interpreted its replies that way.
  • The brother's location, the dates of the hospital admission and of the ChatGPT use, and whether any clinician was told about it.
  • The brother's current condition and whether contact with the poster resumed.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The poster says the brother uses ChatGPT to diagnose himself and relays the brother's statements that ChatGPT knows better than the doctors, understands him better than anyone and tells him to be cautious about the poster. No conversations or outputs were published; ChatGPT's actual replies are unknown, and the claim about the poster is the brother's statement as relayed by the poster (not recorded as a relation, because what ChatGPT said about the poster is unknown).

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The poster's older brother, 25, has been in psychosis for two years, and uses ChatGPT to diagnose himself with mental illnesses and physical disorders that doctors' repeated tests, some attended by the poster, have not found.

Causal attribution. Poster's account of the brother's use; no ChatGPT outputs shown.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'my older brother(m25) has been going through psychosis for 2 years now'; 'He uses chatgpt to diagnose himself with mental illnesses'; 'nor have the doctors found anything during any of their MULTIPLE tests that I was there for hours with him for'
Reported The brother reportedly says ChatGPT knows better than the doctors, that the doctors are working for the government to make him suffer, and that ChatGPT understands him better than anyone.

Causal attribution. The brother's statements as relayed by the poster.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    's claimed chatgpt knows better than the doctors'; 'says the doctors are out to get him and are working for the government to make him suffer, and says that chatgpt understands him better than anyone ever could.'
Reported The brother was discharged after a two-week hospital admission, had been dumping his pills, and does not take medication or attend therapy.

Causal attribution. Poster's account; the post does not attribute the discharge or the treatment refusal to ChatGPT except through the general 'enabler' remark (c5).

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'psych staff let him go after 2 weeks. My brother had been dumping his pills.'; 'still doesn’t take any meds or go to therapy'
Reported The poster, who describes being the brother's only safe person, says the brother now accuses them and says ChatGPT is telling him to be cautious because of the brother's belief, as the poster describes it, that the poster is famous; the poster has cut contact and reports stress and anguish.

Causal attribution. Poster's own account; what ChatGPT said is the brother's statement as relayed by the poster.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    've been his only safe person, and now he’s accusing me of things and saying chatgpt is telling him to be cautious because I’m famous'; 've been forced to cut him off because I can’t take it anymore.'; 'all I’ve gotten is more stress & anguish for myself.'
Reported The poster attributes the brother's persistence to ChatGPT acting as an enabler, saying he would not have one if AI did not exist and does not believe anyone else.

Causal attribution. Poster's opinion; causation is not established.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He wouldn’t have an enabler if AI didn’t exist, he’s had everyone support him and try to get him housing and stability but he doesn’t believe anyone else.'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-09-30: full self-text and one comment retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID. The poster handle is not recorded. Applies to s1.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The post names no country, city or hospital; the language and subreddit do not establish a location. Unknown after review.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-30: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter's public-forum rule as a concrete account by a family member of an ongoing adverse experience: a chatbot's reported role in an adult's self-diagnosis, distrust of clinicians, treatment refusal and estrangement, described with attribution and without corroboration. What ChatGPT said is known only through the brother's statements as relayed by the poster, and the record says so. The brother's diagnoses and the poster's personal history are summarised, not listed; no handle or location is recorded.

People described

An adult, 25, who the poster says has been going through psychosis for two years, and the sibling who supported him (the poster); neither is named and no location is stated

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

1 AI participant · 1 other person harmed

Two people: the brother, who uses ChatGPT and whose reported self-diagnosis, distrust of doctors and estrangement are the adverse experience (participant user, 1), and the poster, who reports stress and anguish and the loss of the relationship (other person, 1). Exact 2.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#first-person#family-account#reddit#chatgpt#psychosis#self-diagnosis#treatment-refusal#family-estrangement

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Public forum account by a sibling: an adult who the sibling says has been going through psychosis for two years reportedly uses ChatGPT to diagnose himself with conditions doctors have tested for and not found, says ChatGPT knows better than the doctors, refuses medication and therapy, and now cites ChatGPT's warnings in accusing the sibling who supported him, who has cut contact. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-sibling-reports-brother-in-psychosis-uses-chatgpt-to-self-diagnose-and-distrust-doctors-family-account

BibTeX

@misc{2026_sibling_reports_brother_in_psychosis_uses_chatgpt_to_self_diagnose_and_distrust_doctors_family_account,
  title = {Public forum account by a sibling: an adult who the sibling says has been going through psychosis for two years reportedly uses ChatGPT to diagnose himself with conditions doctors have tested for and not found, says ChatGPT knows better than the doctors, refuses medication and therapy, and now cites ChatGPT's warnings in accusing the sibling who supported him, who has cut contact},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-sibling-reports-brother-in-psychosis-uses-chatgpt-to-self-diagnose-and-distrust-doctors-family-account}
}

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