Professor Lisa Bortolotti
Professor of Philosophy
Professor Bortolotti is a philosopher of the cognitive sciences, focusing on the philosophy of psychology and psychiatry.
Hearing Voices and Suicidality
Department of Philosophy
Funded by a QR Participatory Fund (2025-2026), this project addressed the relationship between hearing voices and suicidality. Professor of Philosophy Lisa Bortolotti was the principal investigator of the project; Fiona Malpass, Project Development and Innovation Lead at Mind in Camden, was the project partner; and Alex McCowen was the research assistant.
The project aimed to coproduce with the Voice Collective, a group of people with lived experience of hearing voices, resources for professionals supporting people who hear voices and have thoughts of suicide. A series of talks presenting philosophical perspectives on AI psychosis and an explainer video on the sycophantic nature of chatbots were also outputs of the project, prompted by lively discussion as to whether engagement with AI can drive people to suicide.
Two events were hosted as part of the project: a workshop at the Exchange in Birmingham on hearing voices, suicidality, and AI psychosis in March 2026; and a workshop at Mind in Camden in London where the resources were launched, in July 2026.
Resources
A booklet on the experience of hearing suicidal voices
A booklet on the experience of hearing suicidal voices
One of the coproduced resources is a booklet entitled "When Voices Speak of Suicide", available for download in English, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and soon other languages.
The booklet invites people not to make assumptions about voices (that they are harmful, that they are pathological, that they lead to suicide) and also offers some recommendations about how to support people in distress, valuing their safety while respecting their agency.
A video on how to support people hearing voices
A video on how to support people hearing voices
The other resource the team produced is a short animated video, entitled Hearing Voices and Suicidality. The video is just over four minutes and is available on YouTube. It summarises the contents of the booklet in an accessible way. It is based on a script written by Bortolotti, Malpass, and members of the Voice Collective.
The video presents snapshots of the stories of two people, a young woman whose parents used to fight a lot and a middle-aged man who faces financial difficulties and worries about his family. Through their experiences and relationships, we learn how voices can sound and what forms of support are found most helpful at critical times.
Additional resources
Additional resources
Philosophical perspectives on AI psychosis
Philosophy experts on AI psychosis presented their work at the March workshop in Birmingham, and their presentations were recorded. Anneli Jefferson (Cardiff), Lucy Osler (Exeter), Kathleen Murphy-Hollies (Birmingham), and Elisabetta Lalumera (Bologna) offered their view on whether AI can cause delusional states and whether the phrase "AI psychosis" is useful.
A video on the sycophantic nature of chatbots
The philosophy experts also contributed to writing the script of an explainer video, entitled The Remora and the Shark, destined for children and young people, on the nature of AI for The Philosophy Garden project. The short animated video compares chatbots to a remora, a fish that attaches itself to sharks and exploits them for transportation and food. Shark enjoys Remora's company for a while, as Remora always says nice things about Shark, but that does not last.
To give us feedback on the resources, please go to this short survey.
Principal investigator
Relevant publications
Bortolotti, L., Malpass, F. et al. (2025). Challenging Stereotypes About Young People Who Hear Voices. In: L. Bortolotti (ed.) Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan. Open access.