Another excellent piece by @echrhallucinations.bsky.social member @georgiapunton.bsky.social

Reimagining imagination through the minds of fiction readers…
@georgiapunton.bsky.social (Postdoctoral Research Associate, Durham University).
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

This was such a fun article to write about Tulpamancers, based on our research as part of the @echrhallucinations.bsky.social and @theichr.bsky.social

‘They can turn a normal city street into a jungle'
Ella Rhodes spoke to Dr Reshanne Reeder @kerblooee.bsky.social (University of Liverpool), who researches extremes of mental imagery, individual differences in mental imagery, and their impacts.
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

'Why don’t we hallucinate every time we imagine?'
Ella Rhodes spoke to @nadinedijkstra.bsky.social, a principal research fellow at the Department of Imaging Neuroscience (University College London), where she leads the Imagine Reality Lab.
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

Reality shifting – at the boundaries of the brain.

@aldersonday.bsky.social explores extremes of the imagination…

www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

They found something about cats during those specific ages had a slight negative effect.
The study didn't go into specifics like pet loss or ownership details so they didn’t have many explanations for why this might be. Nonetheless, pet ownership is generally shown to be beneficial for wellbeing!

Does owning a cat negatively impact your wellbeing as a child? YouTube video by Dr Emma Claire

Does owning a cat negatively impact your wellbeing as a child?
I have been asked questions about this study that reports owning a cat between ages 4-5 might have a negative impact on emotions and behaviours by age 7.
Overall they found that pets overall are beneficial…

youtube.com/shorts/ni_VB...

Can you taste words? YouTube video by Dr Emma Claire

Can you taste words or see music? Synesthesia is a condition where the senses mix - sounds might evoke shapes, or sight of letters might evoke colour. Affecting about 4% of people, it's a unique brain connection where one sense triggers an experience in another.
youtube.com/shorts/cjati...

Impact of pet ownership in early childhood at ages 1 and 4–5 years on mental health at ages 7–8: findings from the INMA project - World Journal of Pediatrics Background We aimed to explore associations between the presence of pets at one and 4–5 years of age with internalizing and externalizing problems at 7–8 years. Methods Participants comprised 1893 fam...

I was talking about this paper which said that cat ownership was linked to worst mental health in younger children.
📖 González et al (2025) link.springer.com/article/10.1...

BBC expert women training YouTube video by Dr Emma Claire

In February, I had an incredible chance to learn from BBC broadcasters through #bbcexpertwomen my about becoming an expert commentator. I gained so much knowledge and even got to practice a TV sound bite – how did I do?

youtube.com/shorts/doiSq...

If you’ve ever heard a voice or seen a figure while falling asleep or waking up, watch this! YouTube video by Dr Emma Claire

More common hallucinations experiences to brighten up your feed!

Sleep-related hallucinations are know as Hypnogogic (falling asleep) & Hypnopompic (waking up).
There very common in the general population & don’t mean you’re experiencing a mental health problem.

youtube.com/shorts/lvM0Z...

Have you hallucinated recently? #hallucination #phantomphonesignal YouTube video by Dr Emma Claire

Have you hallucinated recently?

Research has suggested anywhere between 25% and 90% of people have had a phone related hallucination, known as a phantom phone signal, where they think their phone has made a notification sound or vibration and it actually hasn't!

youtube.com/shorts/LB_7w...

A recent paper asks whether we can flip the effects of uncertainty: www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...

New work could pave the way for objective assessment of cognitive fatigue across multiple conditions: www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...

Whilst some aspects of AI reduce barriers to accessing mental health help and support, in reality there are digital barriers that can reduce meaningful or informed access.
When psychosis is related to reduced social interactions, there’s a risk that AI will further impact this social isolation.

Technological experts said AI can be scalable and efficiently support healthcare systems. But they were concerned about gaps between gaps between legal regulations and technological development, and AI literacy in users.

Clinicians were cautiously optimistic about using AI as a tool between in person sessions but concerned about the lack of genuine emotion and responsibility relating to safeguarding during a crisis.

Concerns involved having no choice between this and human care. Also covering privacy and data security, and lack of authentic human connection.
They also highlighted how with a human connection you would be able make stakes and learn from it which doesn’t happen with AI which is overly affirming.

Ethics should be part of the design from the start rather than a check list that you use.
Very cool study about user perspectives on ethics for conversational AI.
People with experience of psychosis liked AI for lower threshold for access, personalised interactions and agency.

In a great #sirs2026 session about AI and ethical use in mental health care.
Loes Jonker explains that reality is ahead of research.
Whilst conversational AI CAN be useful for mental health support, commercial apps are often limited and prioritise extended use not therapeutic intervention.

Very interesting point by Dr Anne-Kathrin Fett, that people with psychosis like being alone a lot less than people without psychosis, but are alone more.
So more is needed to support social interactions and make welcoming people with psychosis to social spaces. #SIRS2026

Are you interested in supporting research to develop a questionnaire assessing smartphone use?

Share your thoughts by taking part in the online study below:
southampton.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

That was a lot of the debate today!

I agree. I don’t think we currently have a solution other than destigmatise through dedicated social communication campaigns.

Clinical Reality should be that AI is an adjunct tool not a replacement. Human judgement is essential, we can’t remove the human from clinical interactions.

Susan Rossell now talks about ethical considerations of using GenAI to detect schizophrenia through speech
Where ethical frameworks should consider
- Privacy & Confidentiality
- Informed Consent
- Accuracy & Reliability
- Stigma & Discrimination
- Bias & Fairness
- Autonomy & Governance

Symposium at #SIRS2026 on Responsible use of GenAI in psychosis.
Eric Lin presented a great paper & found users can enter lengthy spirals of conversation with chatbots where the validation from GenAI can lead to much longer conversation.
Preprint here arxiv.org/pdf/2603.16567

First session today at #SIRS2026 is a debate about Renaming Schizophrenia.

Dr Stefan Leucht argues yes, if we rename we can choose a name that is not stigmatised. Maybe Positive & Negative Syndrome?

Dr Wolfgang Gaebel says no. We’ve already renamed it multiple times!

What do you think?

ADHD services shutting door to new NHS patients as demand soars, BBC finds A BBC investigation finds that a host of areas in England are closing waiting lists and others are rationing care.

If it wasn't for Right to Choose I would still be waiting.
Wondering what was wrong with me.
Nothing was.
I was grieving & managing motherhood, which made my attentional & emotional dysregulation even harder to manage.
I'm so angry for the people still waiting.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...