Cyberpunk Edgerunners: Cyberpsychosis - Therapist Reacts! 

The creator of the game has said that the inspiration for cyberpsychosis was akin to getting hooked on steriods. And in Cyberpunk 2077, there are little notes you find lying around that gives clues on why certain people went psycho. Not only is becoming addicted to the meds a factor, but also their overall mental health. Technically, they get as many upgrades as they want, as long as they have a healthy support system to balance out the stress

Worst thing is: Maine didn't even kill Dorio. She got shot from behind while trying to save him. But Maine had only just snapped back into reality for a brief moment so he would never realize what really happened.

In the TTRPG, Cyberpunk 2020, your character has an “Empathy” stat. Your EMP was used for a resource called Humanity - Basically, any time your character wanted to get cybernetics in their body, it costs a certain amount of Humanity. So, if you had 5 EMP, you had 50 humanity points to spend, and the lower you get to 0, the less “human” your character becomes until they finally succumb to cyber psychosis, and you basically hand over your character sheet to the GM.

The most cyborged up character in the setting (both 2020 and 2077) is a full cyborg in that he's 96% cybernetic. The thing that keeps Adam Smasher out of outright cyberpsychosis is that he's a psychopath to begin with. Can't lose one's humanity if one doesn't have any to begin with.

For clarification, Maine didn't shoot Dorio, he missed. But Trauma Team Security took the opportunity of Dorio being distracted trying to help main to shoot her. It's even more tragic imo. She didn't die by his hand, she died trying to save him. Amazing writing.

Its confirmed from game lore and the creator of the TTRPG That cyberpsychosis is 100% reversible and can be treated. It's the stress that cyberware puts on your body that makes it worse. Losing your sense of self and humanity and place among others. As long as you have strong empathy and sense of self and a support system you can recover. Mental health treatment is the best way of treating it. But because of the state of Night City, is basically unavailable or solved with violence.

I remember when I was watching Edgerunners and thought that Cyberpsychosis felt like it was a great analogy to trauma and the effects that come from that. Especially when they were going full "cyberpsycho", they would flash back and forth between the past and the present in a muddled puddle of not knowing what's going on and acting irrationally because you can't tell what is going on. It spoke to me.

It wasn't Maine who killed Dorio. She was shot in the back of the head by either a cop or a member of the Trauma Team. Still a traumatic event for Maine however...

"people with psychosis are by and large not dangerous, violent. It's not something that should be stigmatised... it doesn't mean that this person should be put out of your life ... there's actually no greater chance of something violent or horrible happening compared to the mainstream population" You are a beautiful person ❤made me cry again ps: it's adorable you felt the need to censor fictional slang 😄you gonk

Hearing you get so choked up really got me again. Like it still hurts to see even a fictional character go through this. I'm so glad your going so into this series. There is so much to unpack

In the game cyber psychosis can actually be treated. There's a special force of cyber pshycho "hunters" called maxtac that are mostly composed of ex cyber psychos.

The reason David is able to take so many upgrades and go through so much before he starts to really crack is because he's a genuinely good person with a ton of empathy, in addition to just having a high physical tolerance for cybernetics. The "humanity" loss involved in getting chromed up isn't so much like it literally ripping bits of your soul out (this is what happens in Shadowrun, which is a spiritual/magical cyberpunk universe), but it changes how you perceive/interact with the world to the point you "dehumanize" in the way where you don't consider yourself a human in one way or another (i.e. you think you're better, or your mods let you experience the world in a way an unmodded human cannot and thus- you lose the ability the empathize) and when that happens you start not valuing human life and dissociating even if that's not your intent. The mods themselves also cause physical/mental stress- which when combined with how they change your ability to interact with/perceive the world, exacerbates your alienation from other people and humanity in general. To give you an idea- David's implant is a Sandevistan, which basically gives you short bursts of hyper reflexes/perception to the point the world feels like it's going in slow motion. But the Sandy works on demand. There's another boosterware called Kerenzikov which provides a lesser but permanent effect; and in the game's lore, you *permanently* see the world in semi slow-motion after getting it installed because that's how it works. You have to somehow adapt to living with that. That sort of input alone could cause someone to snap. In PnP cyberpsychosis is preventable/treatable by "de-chroming" and using more regular prosthetics for a while and also, getting actual psychiatric therapy!

I think the strongest connotations of cyberpsychosis and the path leading up to it is that of body dysmorphia experienced by body builders. Never being strong/big enough, always wanting to improve one's body, training to the point of illness/reduced health, compromising gains is a repulsive idea, always chasing an image/self-conception that can't really be achieved or even clearly understood etc etc. Definitely in the case of Maine I couldn't think of anything else.

A thing I want to point out is also the way he approached David while being in his last moments, the quote "keep running" was one of the most emotional things that came out from Maine since it was basically him passing on his own trauma to David, it was him telling that all this not treating his mental health was because he just wanted to keep going, to kinda prove he could endure it, that he would overcome it, by passing this on David he made David follow his steps, the tragedy lies in how Maine served not only as a father figure for David, he also served as a foil for him in the end

As many people have mentioned, Cyberpsychosis is an analogy to losing humanity and empathy. As a character loses what it means to be human (mostly because the world forces them to as they commit murders and steal just to make a living) they start losing their connection to reality. The cyberpunk genre is all about "high tech/low life". Your mental health just can't stand up to the constant hopelessness and the only escape is often to "go out in a blaze of glory". What you say about isolation and abandonment is spot on. In universe, cyberpsychosis is 100% treatable. The catch is that no one cares. It's easier to kill than to love and care. Thankfully this world hasn't gone that far yet, thanks to kind people, medication and treatments. Those things are becoming very hard for the poor to get though, and it's up to us to make sure that the world of Cyberpunk never comes to pass.

In universe there is psychological help available to those getting more and more chromed up but it's often expensive, lengthy, and only available for legal cyberware. So those on the lower rungs go without and use drugs to cope. A mirror into real life for far too many.

Cyberpsychosis is a pretty scary Concept but also an absolute Genius Idea of the Cyborg Canon.

In the tabletop game the attribute empathy matters a lot in terms of cyberpsychosis. The more empathy you have the least likely you are to develop cyber psychosis. And if you think about it David being raised by his mother, a loving mother for that matter, probably had more empathy than the people in his crew who most were people who grew up on the streets with no support system.

I think the saddest part is Maine's hallucinations. It's just him, as the normal person he could be, running away from Night City, but all the roads just end in endless desert. As his implants disassociate him more and more from other people, all that's left is his hopeless inability to escape.

This was a very enlightening on what real psychosis is. Also, big appreciation, I still think of Ep 06 often... Cyberpunk's Night City is absolutely tragic. Night City has its own culture of "chroming up" with cybernetics and other machinery, or you stay organic and get left behind. Its a tragic, nightmarish cycle because there is zero attempts to save any victims of Cyberpsychosis.

Two of the best game adaptations ever, and they both have a strong focus on Psychosis. Edgerunners and Arcane are both masterpieces.

I think cyberpsychosis as a condition was really interesting to witness because the hyperviolence(the only thing that really sets it apart from real conditions) seems to not actually be unique at all to cyberpsychosis, and is more just a product of the conditions of the city. These people are forced to live in the dirt, doing inhumane acts on a daily basis just to make ends meet and stay fed. cyberpsychosis itself is almost supposed to be some kind of warning to us to make sure we regulate society and don't go down this route or else very real conditions that are typically non-violent could begin to resemble something like this. Maybe it was just so well written in the show, but I started getting the feeling that cyberpsychosis is just a label and nothing more. Doesn't even have much to do with the implants even. This is kinda supported by the only full cyborg being from over 50 years in the stories' past, but cyberpsychosis was still around then so I don't know if the original TTRPG intended it like this. Beautiful message nonetheless

I really really felt the tragedy of it all with this episode in particular. Even if you go into this series knowing what to expect, character deaths are still such a gut punch because they take great lengths to show the tender love between characters and their inner psyches. The depictions are all too intimate so as a viewer I genuinely felt immense pain and hurt for all the characters and the trauma they are put through. When you finish watching the series, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the relationship between the environment of Night City and its effects on the mental health of its residents. I think the show does an excellent job of demonstrating the oppressive and suffocating nature of Night City. For example, part of why David's mom succumbed to her injuries was not just due to the accident, but her body was too stressed and overworked to recover without complications. That's just one of the more subtle examples in the show, but I think it demonstrates just how hard Night City's denizens have it and the insidious, pervasive nature of that struggle. I also have lots of strong feelings about how the show centered characters' relationships to each other, and how that played off of their collective trauma and struggles. It felt often like showrunners were presenting robust support systems, family, friends, and love as the antidote to Night City's crushing hopelessness. Characters are seen at their most hopeful and safest with loved ones; in contrast their darkest moments come when they refuse or lose those support systems. I just love that this show embraces the importance of human relationships, love, and empathy as critical tools for survival in a cruel and uncaring world. Love your videos as always, looking forward to the next!

From my own experience with psychosis, this depiction is fairly accurate to an episode of extreme psychedelic psychosis. I remember being told that I was licking my friends faces and getting violent with them as well. They had to restrain me and almost had to punch me out because I was so out of control. The worst part about being that out of control is that I don't remember most of it all I remember is the absolutely insane hallucinations that I was experiencing (viewing alternate realities, becoming my own father, dying and hearing how sad everyone was at my funeral, getting arrested by cops that didn't actually exist, seeing a future where i became a coke dealer and a cereal killer, having a love triangle with alternate versions of my friends) all while in the meantime doing things that were completely insane like rolling around on the floor while foaming at the mouth, punching things and making absolutely absurd and alien noises. Not to mention I also apparently tried to bite my friends nipple off. Definitely don't go overboard and mix a bunch of drugs ladies and gents, or just learn to cope with your mental disorders without them. They can make you do some real crazy shit. Although I don't regret that experience, if I never had it who knows how I'd be acting right now.

The saddest part is That Rebbeca was at home mourning for her brother's death when all this went down. It was the reason why she promised herself if David went off the deep end She would be the one to put him down before it got worst cus she wasn't there that day to try to stop Maine since the info she got was that Maine pop off and killed Dorio when really she was shot from behind by someone else. So now the fact that the most powerful in the group pulled friendly fire is why she was so upset at David getting addicted to upgrades like Maine.

One thing I've always loved about the game and show is they treat cyberpsychosis as a moral grey area. Most of the cyberpsychos you fight are people who just snapped under the weight of the world. Either from a personal trauma, to addiction, to having just a really bad day, painting their actions, perhaps not as justifiable, but as a reason as to why they went cyberpsycho in the first place. Painting the image, "this man isn't crazy, The world made him go crazy." That he'd rather burn the village down, then have to suffer another moment in it. This is no more apparent then in the show, where David slips into cyberpsychosis when Lucy gets captured by Faraday. Where is pushed over the edge that he looses all grip of reality, until Lucy pulls him out. Which makes the whole condition far more believable and realistic IMO.

Gotta hand it Trigfer and CDPR for showing how tragic and real(?) cyberpsychosis is. Like as opposed oh theyre just crazy, but by showing the the tragedy behind them.

An interesting fact about Cyberpsychosis in the original table top game this is all based off of by Mike Pondsmith, is the only way to fight against it is with how high your "Humanity" stat is. So while I think that all the input/output from becoming more and more machine-like is a factor, it's more that if someone is going through trauma or has lost enough humanity (love, balance, inner harmony) they are more susceptible to losing control, just like people in real life do the same except without implants/power. After all, a lot of the Cyberpsycho's in the game are people who Regina thinks you can save, just like David was by Lucy.

something funny is I've had something similar happen to me. I was having vivid dreams and when I woke up I couldn't tell what was real from what wasn't. there seemed to be gaps of time I couldn't remember. I started doubting everything in my head and began to slip in and out of what I saw as real and fake. nothing felt real, and I couldn't tell if I was grounded in reality. I was constantly searching for something to pull me back in but nothing ever came. I filled pages with writing of "I am here, I am awake, I am real." and every once in a while I'll "remember" something, just for it to have never happened.

As someone who has going through psychosis, this really touched my heart. The detachment of the physical world around you was described very well in Edgerunners, this has to be one of the best Anime of all time

The Cyberpunk: Red sourcebook talks about cyberpsychosis from both a game mechanics perspective and goes a bit into real psychosis and a semi-realistic look at what it's supposed to be. The idea behind it and why cybernetic implants triggers/exacerbates it is that it's dehumanization. Once you start viewing the human body as just a collection of parts, both yourself and/or others, you lose your ability to empathize with others or think of them (or yourself) as people and are on the way to cyberpsychosis. It also takes pains to describe why this isn't the case with medical prosthetics. You're just keeping yourself whole, whereas voluntarily replacing an arm with a cannon is intentionally turning the body into a weapon.

“Is this my fault?” Truly heartbreaking.

Georgia, your sensitivity and awareness warms my heart, and you are a shining unique light in this world. My body has betrayed me! After so much mileage, I have fallen arches. Which CAN be serious! After all, it IS what killed Samson = ) This situation reminds me of the comic series "OLD MAN LOGAN", an alternate version of Wolverine. A group of 40 villains attack the X-Mansion and Logan can't locate the other X-Men. Feeling both protective and overwhelmed, he goes beserker and kills the villains...only to find that it was an illusion created my Mysterio, and he has actually just killed all of his fellow X-Men. This totally wrecks Logan, and it is SO heartbreaking. Years later he is old and non-confrontational. Refusing to pop his claws ever again. In spite of the evil and suffering all around.

God, this scene knocked the wind out of me emotionally to the point where I wanted to cry but no tears would come out. It felt like my brain was stuck processing the events of the last 30 or so minutes. I love how as the drama intensifies, there’s a noticeable style change that kicks up the shading, lighting, and facial detail. Eye bags, dirt, soot, blood, just become so noticeable. The eyes of Maine and David that have this piercing effect on the viewer, and the shadows cast over their faces makes the last few scenes so vivid. Thank you for this insightful analysis and I loved the outfit too!

No wayy! I was waiting for you to review cyberpunk and here it is! Love it!

Small tidbit in case someone missed it. Dorio plunged into main for a reason, she prepared immunosuppresent (his meds) to keep him togheter, you can see her having it in her hands. And right before she dies she actually injects him. You see it in his shoulder sticking out. (In this video you see it shown few times). So it kept him actually "sane" well, not cyberpsycho at least. Just enraged? Thats why when he sees david later on he isn't psychotic. Just grieving. my thoughts at least

Another large aspect is that, as was portrayed by Maine standing in front of the wall and or on the edge of a cliff in his Hallucinations, Maine's lifestyle had reached the end of it's potential. The lifestyle of a Cyberpunk is fast and short, and this was Maine coming to terms with the fact that he finally entered a situation that he couldn't get out of. Not just mentally, but also in regards to actually escaping the situation. David found himself against the same wall in the form of Adam Smasher later on. The sad reality about the show is that this demonstrates how effortlessly the corporations could have crushed their group at any time. They just allowed them to exist until they interfered or couldn't be used to turn a profit.

Excellent video, choom!

Huh, I never made the connection that Maine pulled the trigger on Dorio. I'd always thought she'd been shot from behind by some goon while she was trying to snap him back to reality and it was her death (inadvertently caused by him not being at the top of his game and having an episode during a ill-fated raid) that brought him out of it and into his bottomless realization of grief. That makes this scene MUCH more tragic.

I love the dedication and the effort put in to all her videos. Really separates her from other people that simply don't try as much.

As soon as I learned you were covering Edgerunners this is the video I was very curious to see. Obviously Cyberpsychosis is a fictional (currently) condition, but it's the sort of condition that isn't implausible and I was really curious to see your take on it. In any case, you did not disappoint and this was very informative. Thank you!

The whole rampage of Maine was unsettlingly. At points it seemed like there was something of him in there, trying to connect properly, but his body was just doing everything wrong. Like some guy snatched the strings away from a puppeteer and the puppeteer is trying to get them back but he just can't get a hold on them. Like that bit where he repeats in a monotone something he said earlier. He just can't process correctly. Terrifying.

The thing with cyberpsychosis is, that it's a really complex and multifacetted condition and the actual psychosis is only the symptom the outside gets to see. But Cyberpsychosis has elements of dissociation and the loss of one's sense of humanity and self, trauma and PTSD, Immune-system overreaction, neural overtaxation and inflammation and addictive behavioural patterns all rolled into one big ball of chromed up volatility, which then results in the high frequency of extreme violence when cyberpsychos are concerned. It is also important to note that proper aftercare and therapy after augment implantation serve to prevent people going cyberpsycho. And even those that went over the edge can be helped (by strapping them down, turning of their augs and chipping them into a specialized BD with a mental health specialist) but this rarely happens, since most cyberpsychos are so dangerous that MAX-TAC can't risk the non-lethal approach.

Quite a few years ago I had been diagnosed with psychosis. At the time I didn't understand what it even was but I felt like vomiting after looking it up when I got home because it was legitimately things that I had experienced. I've had moments with friends where I had felt like I was completely in a different place, almost like feeling like I woke up from a dream even though it was sorta the opposite. Even then there are moments when I know, or atleast hope I know that I'm in real life where I will see and hear unordinary things. Nowadays I feel like it's only gotten worse for me, my friends don't understand it at all so most of the time because I don't want to ruin their days I'll stay by myself constantly pondering if I'm in some weird episode of my psychosis. Anyways thank you for making this video, I think it means a lot to people like me for those who don't understand it that much to learn about it.

I learned something about myself while listening to your commentary, thank you.

I don't think Maine was the one who shot Dorio, Cause if you look at where his gun is compared to Dorio's head, would not be possible for maine to shot her, His gun is beside her head maybe even a bit behind her head, as she get shot, So I think what happen was that she jumped in front of Maine as one of the cops shots towards him, and She takes the bullet in the back of her head, as you see blood spray from her head towards Maine, but if Maine had been the one shooting her, the blood would have sprayed on the back of her instead she get shot in the back as she dies protecting Maine.

This was a great series, and I've never played the game. I wish they'd have gone deeper into Darios character...she was super cool.

I would love for her to make an in-dept video about David, he is someone that struggled since the beginning and his cyberpsychosis was such a sad point, much more when it explains how he actually felt in the past or how he wish he acted and how it could have explained the regret he carried, about how his life could have gone, time and time again

In the Cyberpunk tabletop game, Cyberpunk Red, the effects of Cyberpsychosis can be greatly reduced through therapy with a qualified professional, but not fully reversed. Very true to life.

One really troubling thing about Cyberpsychosis is the connection between the brain and the implants. Because they work with the conscious and subconscious mind in tandem, the moment someone gets an psychotic episode, the implants can misinterpret the signals from the brain, turning them into actual images in front of the eye ( as can be seen in 8:23 ) , implants that regulate the hormones shot all kinds of cocktails into the body, the ears hear things that aren't there even more realistic than in an actual hallucination and more. It also works the other way where implants mess with the head on their own, be it because they are faulty or otherwise. It becomes a vicious spiral that you can't get out of without proper help.

Another great/accurate analysis of this cyberpunk masterpiece of a show. You look beautiful as always by the way.

Excellent video! I’d love to see a video with your thoughts on Rebecca as a friend to David and how you think she coped with losing her brother (honoring him with her new cybernetic arms) and how she handled David’s emotional spiral.

I remember back in the table top rpg, where every character has different levels of tolerance to cyberware represented as points, and each implant took away a certain number of points from your overall tolerance, with the number ramping up with the more powerful the implant. Now the interesting part about this cyberpsychosis occurs when you've fully gone below 0 representing the full loss of humanity and empathy towards others. And in the case of Adam Smasher in the anime, who is seen as a monster when Lucy tries to quick-hack him, tells me that the reason he's capable of sustaining 96% of his body being completely converted is that in the beginning, Adam never had humanity or empathy to lose to begin with. So he remained the same while he progressively grew into more of a monster.

It's incredibly possible to treat "cyberpsychosis" but the sheer violence and ferocity that the patient has during said state makes it hard to simply treat them considering most of the ones we see in game and in the anime are armed to the teeth which makes the only option is to call MaxTac and just put them out of their misery

Maybe one day I will be able to listen to a therapist get all positive and upbeat about how marvelous modern treatments and therapies are without my eyes rolling back into my skull. She's right, there are incredible advances being made in the treatment and care of mental disorders and every last one of them are locked behind a paywall.

I love your videos!! I hope you’ll make a video about Johnny Silverhand From cyberpunk 2077.

Such a great video, thank you so much!! Helping me deal with the emotional damage of Cyberpunk Edgerunners

Cyber psychosis is by far the most interesting thing that cyberpunk introduced us to. Sadly in game it’s not as prominently featured as the anime, but I love how it’s portrayed as chaotic, but focused.

You about made me cry listening to your voice waver to your emotions on what happened to main. It really shows how heart breaking the show is. Thank you for the video.

I think the corelation between Cyberpsychosis and Augmentation is the digitalisation of the Senses we take for granted. I mean having all your body part switched from Organic Analogue to Synthetic Digital must be very hard for a human brain. Even the RipperDock Vic says, after a Kiroshi (Eye) upgrade, the user feels nausea and discomfort for some days before adapting.

Not being able to trust your own reality is one of my worst fears.

I hope you are ok, Georgia. This show seems to have affected you more than normal. Hope you are doing well :)

I played a Shadowrun character who went by Payload who suffered from cyberpsychosis, in part inspired by my own expirience of psychosis. Payload was originally born under the name Lorena Armstrong into a relatively cushy corporate life, with their parents managing a manufacturing plant. When they were 17, an accident during a tour of the plant instantly killed both of their parents, and completely mangled their body below the waist. They were rushed into a 6 hour life-saving operation, part of which involved the doctor installing a pair of cyberlegs originally intended for somebody else, though during the operation the corporation's PR damage control team selected their parents as the perfect scapegoat to blame the accident on, and subsequently retracted their credentials, leaving them without any insurance coverage. When the doctor learned this, she gave Payload two options: She could either reclaim the cyberlegs, almost certainly killing them in the process, or she could claim that Payload died on the operating table leaving them legally dead, and have them use their newfound anonymity to serve as a courier for illegal drugs and cybernetics to pay off the debt for the legs. At this point they started going exclusively by the street name Fleet (the identity shift also led them to realize they were agender). They worked as a courier for 3 years, and then moved on to being a Shadowrunner (the Shadowrun equivalent of an edgerunner) for another 2 years (at this point replacing their left arm when they got shot, as well as developing an addiction to a combat stimulant called Jazz), before moving into almost exclusively bounty hunting for another 4 years, replacing their remaining arm and taking on the street moniker Payload. I always played Payload as having a very complicated relationship with their mortality, after all they literally needed to buy their life back at the age of 17, and I imagined that manifested as Payload trying to concretely ascribe values to human lives, originally by how productive they were (being raised corporate contributed greatly to that), which led to them viewing life as a sort of game of survival. Attributing value to lives led them down the path of bounty hunting, which led them to start valuing themselves specifically on their ability to kill quickly and efficiently. I always played Payload as being pretty gruff but masking that with a professional facade when dealing with clients. They are in perpetual denial of their mental illness, but part of them does really want to get better, espeically when they're reminded of the fact that their path doesn't really have an end goal and inevitably leads to death, but generally the denial kicks in and stops that line of reasoning from going anywhere. They have an interesting relationship with other people, in that they view their coworkers as an extension of themself, as without their coworkers, they would be much less efficient. They crave connection, but whenever they try and connect with somebody, it all circles back to the fact that they have known only violence, and never know what to talk about or feel, which makes them feel sad and confused, which then usually drives them away from people again. I'd be curious to hear what you think, and how you think such a background would affect a person!

Well, I've read through most of the original 2020 rulebook, and read everything I could get my grubby mitts on the game about Cyberpsychosis. TLDR: Cyberpsychosis is, most likely, just trauma. Exacerbated by increased 'load' on the brain and sensory depravation caused by cybernetics and drug addiction. Now for the long one. Legit it's a very long one, might wanna grab a drink. Also, do keep in mind, this is my personal interpretation out of everything I've read, there's a not insignificant chance I misunderstood something along the way, but I at least believe it to be mostly correct. In-setting there are a number of factors that come into effect. As I understand it, for the most part, cybernetics (at least the ones available to 99.9% of people) don't have high resolution tactile feedback. Someone with a cybernetic arm can most likely feel pressure, extremes of temperature, and some haptic feedback. But a lover's caress, the feeling of the wind kissing the skin, warm water as it flows over that limb? None of that. The more you replace the more isolated you become from what one would normally call the 'human' experience. The creator of the game likened cyberpychosis to roid rage. Not one for one but as a ballpark. Not EVERYONE that shoots up steroids is going to go crazy and have rage episodes. But any who were prone to those? It certainly won't help. Somewhat the same with Cyberpsychosis, anyone who had a propensity for hallucination, extremes of emotion, or difficulty with impulse control, is going to find it MORE DIFFICULT to control said impulses/emotions, and/or it will exacerbate that propensity for hallucination. In-setting there is a lot of 'correlation not causation', but the correlation nonetheless is there, much like in roid rage. Did getting shot up with horse steroids cause the rage episode? Eeeeeh...maybe? It certainly didn't help. In-game, every single one of the cyberpsychos you stop has been put through the wringer in one way or another. There is a veteran with really bad PTSD, episodes where he forgets he's not in the middle of the 4th corporate war. He is reliant on medicine and therapy to stay regular. Well, the corp he worked for decided it was more expensive to keep him than let him go, so they laid him off, cut off his healthcare, and told him to go through veterans affairs to get his meds. The next available VA appointment was 700+ days from the receipt of the email. He begged, he pleaded, he was ignored, he isolated himself and tried to fight through it, used street drugs in an attempt to keep himself regular, then his money ran out, the withdrawal symptoms started, and then he picked up his sniper rifle. Another cyberpsycho was an ex-special forces man who was systematically murdering an entire gang. Said gang had kidnapped his daughter and forced her into sex work. He gave an ultimatum, 'give me back my little girl, or I'll kill your members until you do.' The gang said 'lol no', he killed thirty of them in ones and twos over the next few days, the gang said 'okay'. Gave him drop coordinates, told him his daughter would be there. When he arrived, he arrived to a three day old corpse and twenty men with guns. The rest was screaming, ranting, raving, and killing. I'm not sure if it was him or the gangsters that killed the civilians, but that's kind of a moot point honestly. Valentino gangster was kidnapped by a rival gang. They decided to put more and more chrome on him for kicks and giggles. He managed to keep a shard (little usb thingy they plug into the sockets in their neck/back of their head) where he kept a journal. Described waking up every day to having lost more and more of himself. In ever more pain. Wrote a letter to his...can't remember if it was his mom or girlfriend, but he pleaded to be 'remembered as I was, not as what I will become.' Then he got loose and he killed those that hurt him. And that just goes on and on and on. Every example of a cyberpsycho we see in the game, is someone that was pushed to the absolute extreme by various traumatic experiences, hell, the one with the father hit me hard. I don't have kids, but family is important to me, and I can completely understand a response of 'unthinking rage' under the circumstance he was placed in. So was it the chrome that made them all snap? Well, no, I doubt it. They were all put through the wringer, tortured, traumatized, or in one case, long-term exposure to a horribly toxic work environment until they snapped. So it wasn't the cyberware, but the cyberware and the 'cognitive load' coupled with sensory depravation certainly didn't help. Now, what happened to Maine. In CP 2020, combat was EXTREMELY deadly. Often it would cascade from the opening attack. Whoever got the first hit could very well end up winning the fight. So every Edgerunner was always looking for-pardon the pun-an edge. Whether that was chrome, a better weapon, or combat drugs. Combat drugs that one quickly built a tolerance towards and that pushed for strong addiction. Now, this is the bit where we need to step OUT of the setting and talk about reality. Japan is...iffy about drugs. Drugs are a big taboo over there. The knee-jerk reaction by the producers over there if it's about drugs, is probably the same as you'd get in the US with an underage character in anything remotely naughty. Those 'immunoblockers' that they keep shooting up with? Probably some actual meds in there. But just as likely they're combat stims or other drugs they started using to 'get an edge' and now are fully dependent on just to stay regular, but can't actually call them drugs because the production would be shut down faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Withdrawal is dangerous enough in a baseline human, now imagine a cybered up killing machine going through (potentially lethal) withdrawal, all the while having to do more and bigger jobs to maintain their reputation so they can get money to pay the rent and buy more drugs to stay regular so they can keep working and get more chrome to get an edge and more and stronger combat stims. In the tabletop game it could form a self-sustaining feedback loop that would make a character burn out. (Mind you, it was fun in the game. Was an interesting thing to explore. In any other context, it's horrifying). So...what is cyberpsychosis? Most likely it's PTSD, combat stims, sensory depravation, addiction, cybernetics caused cognitive overload, faulty 'ware, stress and trauma. All blended together with a side of hypercapitalistic dystopia pressing down on people's neck until they snap. Sidenote. Cyberpsychosis does not always come in the form of an orgy of violence until they're put down. A person can become a kleptomaniac. Go for extreme isolation. Or they could have a...what's the term? Body dissociative disorder? Basically, they might do something during a psychotic episode, and blame it on the chrome bodypart, telling themselves "It's not my fault, it was my chrome arm that did it." And just like there are high functioning psychopaths. There can be high functioning cyberpsychos, just look at Adam "I require any job that I do to have high civilian casualties and the meat is inferior" Smasher. The guy is absolutely a cyberpsycho, he's just...marginally more in control. Now, did Maine burning out come as a surprise? For me, at least, it didn't. The opening cinematic has a section where it shows David in profile looking strong and fierce toward the left of the screen, then it shows his mother's profile, then Maine's, then back to David, this time his head tilted down, his eye open wide in distress, and bright red. And taking into consideration that David's mom died in the first episode...I took that to mean that Maine was going to die and David would take that badly. Add to that my prior knowledge of the TTRPG, in a game where life was cheap and the most fun was had when your character died in a blaze of glory. Maine talking about getting more chrome "It's not wasting eddies if it makes you or your crew stronger", and all the talk of 'immunoblockers'. And I found myself wondering less how everything would turn out, and more how long he would last before he pushed too far too fast and crashed. Admittedly though. I cheated, cause I came in armed with setting knowledge that most that watch the show won't have. Can't wait to see your episode on David. That's gonna be a doozy. If anyone got this far and would like to talk lore, give me a poke! 8D Apologies for the super long post. >,

this show ripped my heart out and stomped on it and I still enjoyed every moment hanging of the edge of my seat.

Georgia is on cosplay path again. I am hoping she doesnt chop off her arm to get chromed-up for like 7th Cyberpunk video :D

Just finished the anime and of course feeling that mini-depression that comes with its ending. Watching you revisit and explain the emotional stuff from the show helps ease that feeling. Just found your channel btw, you got a new subscriber 🙂

The only issue with how you analyzed it is that in real life its been shown that surroundings can and do affect how people who have psychosis behave. In this universe the vast majority of people who eventually succumb to it are in there fighting near constantly which tends to make them more violent then others. The non violence does get shown with david near the end even though he was being forced to fight. So going off of this assuming people who chrome up in ways that are not meant to be used for combat that would mean they might not be violent cyberpsychos but the ones who are doing it purely for combat are more likely to become violent ones in the lore. And following that they become seen as dangerous. Its honestly really freaking tragic.

in the game its said cyberpsychosis is basically alienation caused by your augments, and the amount of augmentation doesnt matter, you could just have a augmented ankle and if you feel alienated from everyone for it, youre a cyberpsycho it could be either the fully murderous kind you usually see ingame, or just somebody afraid and hiding because they think theyre a freak

It's crazy how realistic the idea of cyber psychosis is

Cyberpsycosis reminded me a whole lot of Madoka Magica. Won't say what (to avoid spoilers) but if you've seen the show (especially Rebellion movie) its pretty much the same thing. Love both shows!

I really appretiate that she's speaking out about the truth of pschyosis. Personally I suffer from schizoaffective diagnosis. Yeah, I suffer from hillusonations in all forms and mood swings and I've been villianized by plenty for this condition. Hell the treatment from other because of this condition brought about me suffering from CPTSD. Just because someones brain chemistry is off and they act strange or do things that don't make sense doesn't make them a threat. I may get upset or just plain angry but I literally have NEVER attacked anyone. I hate the thought of violence because I've been the victim of it too many times. I manage to keep a handle on myself thanks to meds and therapy and neither of those are a sign of weakness.

Watching Maine go through this was rough. Honestly I feel bad for all of them. It felt like, halfway through, no one was going to make it out of this and well pretty much right?

I won't say the moment was shocking. I know the setting well enough to realize 'oh shit, he's not going to be able to dial down, much less pull back is he?' and what the inevitable result of that would be... but it still hit like a truck. Heck if anything seeing it coming. Knowing how that song and dance nearly always plays out... it kind of made it worse, since I kept asking 'will this be the moment?' Then of course it goes and happens again with David.

"From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me; I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine. Your kind claimed your flesh, as if it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass the you call "the temple" will wither and you will beg my kind to save you... but I am already saved; for the machine is imortal. Even in death I serve the Omnissiah." - If you know where this quote is from then you are awesome!

I loved your style Georgia! Very cyberpunk! It's actually immersive in the topic 😂

I enjoy how you’ve cosplayed as the character you are talking about. Also the way you talk and engage with topics is entertaining but also easy to understand and process. Good stuff!

Someone else on Reddit pointed out a connection to PTSD, and Mike Pondsmith (the creator) pointed out that "It took you 20 years, but there it is!" and went on about how Johnny Silverhand would blame his dark acts on "the Hand," and things like that. Basically, cyberpsychosis isn't from the chrome, it's from trauma and they blame it on the chrome. That's why you see vets go Cyberpsychotic so often. Why you see people who've lost everything go Cyberpsychotic. Why David ended up going screaming over the edge eventually, after he popped a civvy. As someone with PTSD (yes, I'm in therapy, medicated, and have a wonderful support group), that really hit home with me, and it made the TTRPG, video game, and anime hit that much more home with me. It also made David's arc in particular, and Lucy bringing him back from the edge really hit (and hurt) that much harder, since I have a wonderful partner (who even wears her hair super similar to Lucy) who does that for me. Now, I don't have psychosis or whatever, I just have **really** bad PTSD and some other stuff, and she (and the rest of my support group) really take care of me. I'd not make it without 'em, there's no doubt in my mind.

Just binged watched whole series, I liked it alot

The thing that a lot of people don't get about cyberpsychosis (in the TTRPG) is exactly what you're saying: It's actually entirely treatable under certain situations. Therapy, downtime, or relaxation or just willingness to reduce power all help. 'Non violent' cyber psychosis (in the most recent version, in Cyberpunk Red) may have a empathy cost, but its entirely curable. (Literally just trauma from surgery or dealing with a rapidly changing body) Or if its to fill something missing (Such as say, a sex reassignment cybersurgery) can restore humanity. Similarly, getting a prosthetic doesn't make you less human as detractors have said (that'd actually help you cure empathy loss) It's that you're replacing something human with something specifically used to make you better at killing people or better than people in some way. It's tossing aside humanity for raw power. I.E. if your arm is a machine gun, it 's not like owning a gun, you can put the gun down, you can take it to the range, but then put it away after. Your arm is literally a murderous weapon, a flex or a thought could make you shoot someone, because its controlled by your mind. A moment of thinking about how much your friend pissed you off may literally cause you to shoot them because you're rigged and adjusted into a physical weapon. It's kind of frustrating how its depicted in the show and CDPR video game.

This is an amazing and insightful video, and your reaction to the material really adds to the impact. Thank you.

Been waiting to watch these, after I finished the series. Great video. Love your analysis of these shows

Cool nomad V cosplay, and thanks for making such an informative video : )

I remember Watching Maine go Through all this and just feeling heart broken for him, I've never gone through something like this and I can imagine it hurts like hell for him to go through all these emotions, RIP maine may you find happiness in your slumber big guy

We were introduced to the concept of cyberpsychosis 30 years ago with the Cyberpunk roleplaying game...the show did a fantastic job of showing what it would look like to watch it happen to someone. For us way back then it was a statistic to be avoided...on one hand we wanted to be stronger, faster, smarter, or have less lag when jacking into the "Net as a way of making our characters "more effective" in the game, but didn't want to dance all the way across that line...the cartoon showed what that line looks like and how easily it can be crossed without realizing it.

... you would LOVE the character "Regina Jones" in Cyberpunk 2077. ;-) She is a former reporter who has taken it upon herself to support a research program which seeks to treat Cyberpsychosis. A pity Edgerunners takes place in the year 2076, but I suppose the events in the series tie in nicely to the need for that program in the first place. Honestly I don't think it was Maine who shot Dorio, more likely it was the police officer on the ground, firing wildly. If memory serves - Maine was using a semi-automatic shotgun. That's why his glasses broke - the bullet flew through Dorio and hit him relatively harmlessly. But still - she was the person who always grounded him. Seeing such a person die would send anyone over the edge. .... did it get dark all of a sudden? 🙂 Also - love the hairdo you went with for this video! Your entire getup is very close to what the vanilla V(alerie) of Cyberpunk 2077 looked like! 😲

That's such a good point about the character of Maine, he's the archetypical "strong man' and leader who loses his shit... I feel like a lot of pertinance of this anime is it's exploration of archetypes and shadows wihtin the framework of Jungian Psychology... I wonder what his take would be. He said he spoke to patients who believed they lived on the moon... That fantasy would be almost like a braindance of a person in psychosis... Your emotion is brimming... I can sense your passion and intelligence...

More Cyberpunk episodes please! Really good observations on Cyberpsychosis. I'd LOVE to see an episode on Adam Smasher. I think Trigger did a really good job establishing the character within the scope of about 3 episodes, and clinching the series with: "This exo-suit mcguffin is really big, expensive, etc. etc." and Smasher's reaction is just an instantaneous "This suit sucks lmao". Perfect bad guy

From the most recent version of Cyberpunk ttrpg: Cyberpsychosis is defined as a loss of empathy for others and a corresponding loss of self-regard or sense of self preservation. Subjects have trouble emphasizing with themselves or others as "real." Instead, they start to see themselves or others as collections of parts instead of living, breathing organisms. This is basically a form of dissociative and depersonalization disorder. According to the Mayo Clinic: Dissociation is a mental process of disconnecting from one's thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity. The dissociation disorders that need professional treatment include dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, depersonalization disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Traumatic events that occur during adulthood may also cause dissociative disorders. Such events may include war, torture, or living through a natural disaster. Depersonalization disorder is characterized by feeling detached from one's life, thoughts, and feelings. People with this type of disorder say they feel distant and emotionally unconnected to themselves, as if they are watching a character in a boring movie. Other typical symptoms include problems with concentration and memory. The person may report feeling ‘spacey' or out of control. Time may slow down. They may perceive their body to be a different shape or size than usual; in severe cases, they cannot recognize themselves in a mirror. Developing cyberpsychosis is not triggered merely by putting in cyberware. It is in the voluntary removal of a functioning body part to replace it with a machine. It is generally not normal to voluntarily cut off a limb or remove a functioning body part. Putting in an earring involves some self-harm, but on a level that is barely discernible to the person doing it. It also does not require the removal of a body part. However, voluntarily choosing to replace a working part for no other reason than aesthetic or functional advantage requires that the user already be able to get past the qualms of cutting up one's body voluntarily. Cyberpsychosis comes about when the subject begins to compulsively alter the body beyond the human baseline. Seeing the body as a thing-a form of Dissociative Personality Disorder-they change it without thought. Why this doesn't count for people who have non-voluntarily needed cyberware: Replacing a lost or damaged body part with a new cloned part or Medical-Grade Cyberware does not increase dissociation, because the replacement of the body part makes the person feel "whole" again, increasing their level of body awareness. Now, if they replaced that limb with a cyberarm with knives in the knuckles-that choice was voluntary because it was excessive augmentation, and will thus come with Humanity Loss. Personally, I always thought that the imperfect flesh-machine interface had also something to do with it. Adding new abilities to one's body means creating new neural pathways, increasing the "weight" on the brain, which has to process signals it was not meant to.

It was very informative to view a perspective from a therapist discuss this. Thank you.

I’ve had a manic episode that turned into a psychosis. Everything she says is true. Took a year to recover fully.

I love how you talk about the subject as if we are living in this universe. Watching the show, I was pissed at him, but it makes sense the way you described it. Feeling like you're week when you're use to being so strong is a tough lose people cannot deal with in day to day life

This is why I love these sci-fi stories with worlds that are so close to our own. Experts and professionals are able to look and give real-world context. Cyberpunk as a genre is generally dark and can be triggering, but being able to face these dark subjects in an fictional world can be helpful

The creator of the setting, Michael Pondsmith, has gone on record several times to state that cyberpsychosis isn't really a symptom of extreme cyber usage and more a symptom of the dystopian nature of the setting's society. It is called out in the source material and the game that the vast majority of cyber psycho's aren't the ultraviolent encounters heavily reported on, they are people with only one or two implants such as a liver or a kidney or a heart that was acquired to treat an underlying medical problem who then withdraw completely from society. It is more a symptom of a lack of social support systems. Mechanically in the tabletop game it is represented by a characters humanity score, and very notably losses to that score can be recovered by literally going to therapy. Yes the introduction of artificial systems does cause some loss there but you are more likely to run into things within the setting that traumatize the character and those are far worse overall. Cyberpsychosis as a mechanic and a feature of the setting is more a glaring dig at what happens when society abandons people under the profit motive and we all become far less empathetic, loose emotional support structures and live within a system that devalues us to the point of profit points. It always was a societal and political critique of what Pondsmith and the other writers thought were serious problems.

I forget where I read it but they also said that with cyberpsychosis they become cold and their emotions are muted. They start to see themselves as superior to people who are seen as weak.

Thanks for covering this top notch series. Looking forward to your take on series favourite Rebecca.

I knew you would do a video on this and I love the way you approached this. Normalise helping people, please for the love everything

I always love your cosplay in every video! It's so good😄

thank you this has oddly enoghf helped me learn about this condition and helped me understand how to help a person in my life.

Though therapy is an option to treat cyberpsychosis, what happened to David was unavoidable. It wasn't just trauma and psychosis, it was his brain being poisoned and fried to the extreme and getting pumped full of drugs over and over desperately trying to stabilize his brain. Like what the Ripperdoc said, once his last dose ran out he was gonna slingshot right into insanity. The only thing that got through the hallucinations was the voice of the woman he loved.