I think, cyberpsychosis is a look back, a look at the humanity you lost long before the implants were installed. It is no coincidence that the characters in the anime (Main, David) are completely alone in their visions, because the entire city is inhuman.
P.S. There's a note in the game called "The Truth About Cyberpsychosis" that supports my thoughts.
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It’s basically your humanity, caring, and all that. Cyberpychos are when that humanity just breaks and they can’t feel anymore and just enter a catatonic state. Though those without humanity already (i.e smasher) just aren’t affected.
None of the above. It’s detailed pretty thoroughly in the source material. People have a certain amount of empathy and pre existing psychological conditions. When you get cyberware you lose a bit of empathy, and sense of self. If you lose too much you become at risk of experiencing a psychological break. This can happen with a little cyberware, or you can get a full body transformation and be fine. It’s different depending on the person and their circumstances. A psychotic break is always a possibility, but never a certainty
My personal belief is that cyberpsychosis is the end result of total alienation from ourselves, our labor and from each other. The use of cybernetics has a part to play, but as shards (and other sources in the TTRPG) indicate, cyberpsychosis can strike people with even minimal cyberware.
As others (and Voice of God Himself) have stated, the essential stat is Humanity, and what is a low Humanity score than a measure of our alienation?
I agree with the others on this post to certain extent, but to expound:
Humanity is just a measurement of your empathy and moral choices. Cyberpsychosis, I feel, is more about how much absolute power one can handle without losing their moral compass. It’s similar to alcoholism, in a way. Some people can take small amounts but the effect on them is so intense compared to what they previously knew that it’s hard for them to gain a sense of control. I feel the same with Cyberpsychosis.
David, V, Main… these chooms had an outsider perspective from the get-go so being on the fringe with fringe benefits isn’t going to shake them. It’s only when they physiologically have very little left that their control withers.
Cheers, choomba.
From what I know . Nobody knows what it is exactly but they know it’s cause . They know what can speed it up but what can also slow it down . They know the bare bones of what it is but have no definite cure for it
Cutting pieces of your human body off has serious issues with your brain. Go figure.
The main belief is that too many cybernetics will cause the average person to go crazy because the body rejects the metal. Some people (like V, and David) have natural high tolerances for cyberware while others may not. It makes sense in a way because given a random organ, your body will reject it and attack it. Cybernetics are in essence pseudo organs/limbs.
However, as we’ve seen, MaxTac is able to remove (most) of the cyberpsychosis and turn them into a beefed up SWAT member. I have a theory most cyberware is planted with some sort of bug or AI that will slowly cause its host to go nuts. Chaos leads to panic, which leads to the elites pushing for a solution (profit) by selling weapons or certain cyberware. It’s a profitable cycle. It’s like how our media can do fearmongering and make everyone freak out and go by shit at a store.
Super chromed-up cyberpsychos being reformed could also be a government ploy to get the best of the best in their uniform to keep control. It works out very well for NC’s government.
I always thought cyberpsychosis was made up; a scapegoat for the mental instability caused by living in Night City combined with giving regular civilians access to military grade weapons. You never see anyone calling the babbling loon in a gutter a cyberpsycho because he lacks the means to actually act on anything.
And that’s not even counting the times that it’s straight up used as a catch-all, like the guy who got duped into buying a dodgy business.
It’s more of an epidemic. Like how maestrom became the most wicked gang there is. It’s a choice. It has always been
At least in the game, all of the cyberpyscho’s prior to having their big psychosis are being put through a lot of psychological stress coupled with an increase in cyberware as explained by different shards and emails. So at the very least those external factors play a part otherwise why include them? As with most psychological things, theres external and internal factors at play.
It’s nothing. People get driven to the point of breaking, and their cyber wear makes them more dangerous than a regular person. It’s no different than any form of mass violence. Often times, mass violence is precluded by a traumatic event.
the way i interpret it, cyberpsychosis as it’s described is a real mental illness. but the term has it’s lost its original meaning and is wrongfully used as a blanket term for all chromed up insane people. so a lot of people labeled as cyberpsychos don’t actually have cyberpsychosis and their insanity is due to unrelated trauma and mental illnesses
Folks here should get interested in the TTRPG. It answers these questions.
I can hear that picture
[The creator Mike Pondsmith himself explaining](https://www.reddit.com/r/LowSodiumCyberpunk/comments/xklzsx/comment/ipffmf4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Basically, he likens it to roid rage. There are some people inherently more prone to roid rage. Some people can take it sensibly and avoid it well. Some people hit the mark very quickly. But at some point, no matter who you are, if you’re doing roids consistently, you’re gonna get roid rage.
Its not a disease at all. Its ur brain breaking cause you shoved to much into it.
I know there’s a source reason and how Mike pondsmith explains it but to me cyberpsychosis is a result of the human brain getting more and more used to operating computerized parts and the inevitable end result for a normal person. Organically there’s supposed to be a buffer but that’s only there for so long and inevitably the body gets more and more used to not having that buffer at all. Logic and binary, replaces what should be your humanity and empathy. Instinct takes over and is functioning more on your cyberware than whatever organic parts you have. Your human brain is there but it can only function without emotion for so long before you see it snap and just shut off and you only function reactively on your instincts built over your life while having cyberware.
Like we think of cyberpsychosis in just the violent outbursts of murderous intent but there’s probably just as many that instead of that just broke and ended up doing a menial task similar to a robot and is just gone. Working on like construction or cleaning or something and they are just doing it, no thought process just the cold logic of doing the task the cyberware was built for but they completely snapped and lost in their own body.
Adam Smasher already being a high-functioning psychopath meant that there was nothing to deteriorate. He just is adding more to the brain that’s already built on that killer instinct. And honestly, I think Johnny is much the same in that regard where his narcissism is what makes him function much like Smasher being a psychopath.
Dunno, just my strange headcanon. I know it’s not the way Mike Pondsmith wrote it out and explains it.
It’s alluded to be a byproduct of societal degradation in universe, and the circumstances which make someone go cyberpsycho are different person to person but have in common that it’s a sudden near permanent dissociation from reality that causes it
You stop seeing yourself as human, and more as a machine. By voluntarily lopping off parts of your body, you are seeing yourself as a collection of components, rather than as an individual, singular thing. This is why medical prosthetics dont contribute to cyberpsychosis, since they are gained “involuntarily,” you could say.
Here is Mike Pondsmith’s description of [cyberpsychosis](https://www.reddit.com/r/LowSodiumCyberpunk/s/TbJQcxWLxG) from a while back
It’s a metaphor on how relying on technology controlled by private corporations can lead to the loss of humanity, hopefully Orión would treat this more
Dude, it’s not that deep bruh. There’s an incredibly detailed section of the book which covers this. A explanation designed to be comprehensive for the GM.
Cyberpsychosis is : I am a not a whole person, I am merely a collection of interchangeable parts + No one else is a whole person, only a collection of interchangeable parts = I have no human regard for myself or others.
It’s highly inspired by actual mental illnesses (Mike Pondsmith is an anthropologist) – so to romanticise it like this feels a bit yucky.
The OG reason out of lore for cyberpsychosis and the Humanity stat in the ttrpg (and I many be recalling this wrong) was that giving corps control over literal parts of your body was a horrifically bad idea, but that was too anticapitalist for a big media franchise/setting like Cyberpunk became, so it got changed to ‘chrome eats your soul’ and eventually now into ‘chrome makes you more likely to have a mental break’.
Which – chrome making you more likely to have a psychotic break does make sense, it’s fucking with your nerve endings and in an already shitty world, getting turbo-overstimulation+panic attack+having a rocket launcher for an arm is not a good mix.
It’s a pure skill issue.
Pretty sure cyberpsychosis is just regular psychosis but made doubly worse with the proliferation of weapons and combat cyberware.
I know this isn’t accurate, but:
The way cyberpsychosis works reminds me of how Humanity works in Vampire Masquarades. You lose enough of it and you frenzy, losing your sense of self control and going complete animal.
Install too much cyberware, and you go berserk, losing your sense of self and going complete animal.
It’s meant to be ambiguous
I will try to explain my take onCyberpsychosis. The implants alone do not break you. It is like drinking alcohol or amy other consumation drug but alcohol in this case makes more sense. You don’t usually become a alcoholic from drinking once. Or becoming hammered. Long term use you will hurt your body definitely,liver damages and more. But there is always a reason why you drink thst much. You have a causality. Cyberpsychosis needs implants. They further the problem. But you need a causality to have a mental break. Be it ptsd,a traumatic event or something entirely else. The further control you loose mentally the further you drive into a mental break/Cyberpsychosis. There is a quote i like that goes :” you onmy need one bad day”. And the case is here aswell. Today you are fine,or atleast you think you are. But you are sometimes closer to a mental break than you think. The chrome also quickens and multiplies the neural problems,with Cybernetics big and wide sideeffects. Here the problems pile uo and up to a point your mental fortitude breaks as you have no control over yourself anymore,as you already where in a negative situation before,but the chrome basically hastened and worsened the problem. If you have empathy,a social safety net and not much stress of course your mental strength will be better so the chrome won’t effect you too much perhaps. But at some point the chrome,the mental problems,everything becomes too much. But also Cyberpsychosis is used too much as an umbrella term. Not every mental break is Cyberpsychosis. But every case of Cyberpsychosis is a mental break.