"There were a couple of nights where he didn't want me to come downstairs with him, didn't want me near him. But he wanted to make sure that I was there, and I was talking to him,"
"He's down there crying. He's down there screaming and yelling... I was texting with suicide hotlines a couple of times."
"Dex was texting me one day when I was having one of those top of the stairs nights with [my son] downstairs screaming and throwing things,"
"He reached out to me when I first joined, and he's helped me a lot."
A retiree and single mother flew to see her son after discovering his addiction to methamphetamine and an all-consuming reliance on ChatGPT. His substance use and AI-fueled interactions produced paranoia, anger, grandiose delusions, and social withdrawal. The son experienced intense emotional breakdowns, including crying, screaming, and threats of self-harm that prompted text exchanges with suicide hotlines. Family members described nights where he refused physical proximity yet wanted presence. The mother found peer support through an online community called the Spiral Support Group, which grew from about two dozen to nearly 200 members, including impacted relatives and some mental health professionals.
Read at Futurism
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