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Joe Pierre, MD

@psychunseen.bsky.social

Academic psychiatrist at UCSF and author of the Psych Unseen blog at Psychology Today and the book False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True (Oxford University Press, 2025) drjoepierre.com

11,003 Followers  |  667 Following  |  904 Posts  |  Joined: 21.10.2023
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Posts by Joe Pierre, MD (@psychunseen.bsky.social)

perhaps, although Trump was voted into power despite the initial preferences of those in power, in part based on his promises of American isolationism.

01.03.2026 00:04 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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According to this logicβ€”that attempted election interference is a just cause for an invasionβ€” we should be declaring war on Donald Trump.

28.02.2026 16:51 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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It Can Now Be Plainly Said: Trump Is Planning a November Coup d’État During the campaign, it was kind of hard to picture the specifics of how Trump might pull such a thing off. Alas, it’s getting less hypothetical by the week.

We are all to blame if we continue to sit on our hands waiting for mid-term elections that may or may not happen.

newrepublic.com/post/207138/...

28.02.2026 16:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Going to war without Congressional approval is unconstitutional.

People will dieβ€”and children have already diedβ€”from an illegal act.

Why do we allow it to happen?

28.02.2026 15:56 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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Why Do People Develop Emotional Attachments to AI Chatbots? | Cambridge Disinformation Summit Why Do People Develop Emotional Attachments to AI Chatbots? How loneliness, narcissism, and transference can explain the connection. Joe Pierre Psychology Today Key points People are increasingly de...

Why Do People Develop Emotional Attachments to AI Chatbots?

How loneliness, narcissism, and transference can explain the connection.

From UCSF Clinical Psychiatrist Dr. @psychunseen.bsky.social, Aug 2025.

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

26.02.2026 06:37 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

It’s telling that people who believe the moon landing was faked also believe that grainy videos of UFOs prove the existence of aliens.

#MistrustMisinformationandMotivatedReasoning

20.02.2026 13:59 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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AI Delusions Are Leading to Domestic Abuse, Harassment, and Stalking ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are reinforcing users' delusions about other people β€”Β fueling fixations linked to stalking and other abuses.

NEW: ChatGPT and other chatbots are feeding users' fixations on real people, reinforcing users' delusional ideas and obsessions about others as they descend into unwanted harassment, stalking, and/or domestic abuse β€”Β traumatizing victims and profoundly altering lives.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

17.02.2026 15:58 β€” πŸ‘ 1188    πŸ” 617    πŸ’¬ 22    πŸ“Œ 130

Nice finding, but neither surprising nor reassuring since this would require trainers to recognize or acknowledge truth.

Unfortunately, tech moguls have already demonstrated a lack of interest in promoting facts over falsehoods, especially when falsehoods are more profitable.

12.02.2026 16:23 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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An American dream morphs into a nightmare - The Boston Globe Seamus Culleton, an Irish immigrant married to a US citizen last year and living in Boston for more than 20 years, has been held in squalor in Texas for five months.

Next they came for the Irish…

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/10/m...

12.02.2026 01:42 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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What’s in a Name? The Problematic Term β€œProvider” An official website of the United States government

The practice of calling physicians β€œproviders” has its roots in antisemitism pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

10.02.2026 05:20 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Anyone else notice that most of the Superbowl ads were made with CGI or AI?

Welcome to the Pageant of the Unreal!

09.02.2026 05:52 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Fake News, A.I. Deepfakes, and the Pageant of the Unreal When we can no longer tell what’s real or not, we become easily manipulated.

Blogpost #180: Fake News, A.I. Deepfakes, and the Pageant of the Unreal

When we can no longer tell what’s real or not, we become easily manipulated.

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...

05.02.2026 15:22 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Saw an ad offering help to "make your own custom GPT to write newsletters, blogs and podcast scripts in your voice."

Has the world really become that lazy, lacking in creativity, and willing to plagiarize yet able to engage in the self-deception that their role in doing so is anything but obsolete?

04.02.2026 03:37 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

We are Batman.

31.01.2026 01:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Man dressed as Batman raises concerns about ICE at Super Bowl At a city council meeting in Santa Clara, California, a man dressed as batman brought his concerns about federal immigration agents being at the Super Bowl.

Batman asks the question so many of us have about ICE:

"What the fuck are we doing here? People are dying on our streets!"

www.washingtonpost.com/video/nation...

30.01.2026 23:39 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Then they came for the journalists…

30.01.2026 15:46 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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When Fringe Conspiracy Theories Become Mainstream Propaganda What happens when conspiracy theories are the mainstream narrative put forth by those in power? We’re finding that out now.

No question. As u know, PT is averse to anything that chooses sides these days, so I wrote mine from a perspective that focuses on personal beliefs rather than focusing on the informational ecosystem.

That stuff goes here at my "graveyard of rejected op-eds""

psychunseen.medium.com/when-fringe-...

29.01.2026 19:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Will read; but wonder about direction of causality.

29.01.2026 17:10 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Death in Minnesota: A Tale of Two Alternate Realities How morality and motivated reasoning make us see the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti from opposite perspectives.

This was my take:

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...

29.01.2026 16:39 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Chatbot-Generated Propaganda Threatens Democracy | Psychiatric Times Psychiatric Times is the connection to Psychiatry and Mental Health, featuring clinical updates, expert views, and research news in multimedia formats.

Al Frances and I discuss the role of AI in propaganda and its threat to democracy:

www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/chatbot...

28.01.2026 01:07 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I remember what it was like to have competent and articulate leaders. πŸ˜₯

28.01.2026 04:37 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Death in Minnesota: A Tale of Two Alternate Realities How morality and motivated reasoning make us see the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti from opposite perspectives.

Death in Minnesota: A Tale of Two Alternate Realities

How morality and motivated reasoning make us see the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in completely opposite ways.

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...

28.01.2026 02:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Chatbot-Generated Propaganda Threatens Democracy | Psychiatric Times Psychiatric Times is the connection to Psychiatry and Mental Health, featuring clinical updates, expert views, and research news in multimedia formats.

Al Frances and I discuss the role of AI in propaganda and its threat to democracy:

www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/chatbot...

28.01.2026 01:07 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This is very good πŸ‘‡

27.01.2026 19:04 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Death in Minnesota: A Tale of Two Alternate Realities How morality and motivated reasoning make us see the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti from opposite perspectives.

Death in Minnesota: A Tale of Two Alternate Realities

How morality and motivated reasoning make us see the world in opposite ways.

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...

27.01.2026 15:29 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
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'They saw them on their dishes when eating': The mushroom making people hallucinate dozens of tiny humans Only recently described by science, the mysterious mushrooms are found in different parts of the world, but they give people the same exact visions.

With most psychedelic drugs, you never know what you're going to get. But this mysterious mushroom from China - without fail - causes users to hallucinate tiny people: crawling up walls, popping out from under furniture and marching under doors. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

22.01.2026 17:31 β€” πŸ‘ 2236    πŸ” 611    πŸ’¬ 140    πŸ“Œ 948
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Psychiatrists Hope Chat Logs Can Reveal the Secrets of AI Psychosis UCSF psychiatrists may have documented what is likely the first case of AI psychosis in a peer-reviewed journal. He tells us what to know as media reports about cases mount.

What's behind recent headlines related to AI psychosis? UCSF psychiatrists documented the first peer-reviewed case of AI-associated psychosis in an academic journal and is now studying whether chat logs could reveal warning signs. tiny.ucsf.edu/rIpnQ3

20.01.2026 22:11 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Where are the QAnon adrenochrome conspiracy theorists when you need them?

I mean, it all makes sense, doesn't it?

22.01.2026 18:05 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Read Mark Carney's full speech on middle powers navigating a rapidly changing world | CBC News Read the full text of Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech about a shakeup of the global order and role of middle powers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Mark Carney gave one hell of a speech at Davos.

A master class in standing up to a bully.

And talk about MAGAβ€”it made me nostalgic for a US President who could lead with such intelligence, courage, and compassion on a world stage.

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

22.01.2026 12:22 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The deafeningly beautiful silence of people finally refusing to suck up to Trump.

22.01.2026 04:05 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0