Cyberpunk: Becoming a Legend from Dogtown

[First, let's clarify how the author of the Cyberpunk text defines cyberpsychosis.]

It's time to (partially) explain cyberpsychosis. First and foremost, cyberpsychosis is a condition that partly depends on the individual's inherent susceptibility. Just as not everyone who drinks heavily at parties becomes an alcoholic, not everyone automatically develops cyberpsychosis. You must have an innate predisposition, which (in the TRPG) is represented by the player's "Humanity stat." The "Humanity stat" doesn't just measure one aspect of personality but is a comprehensive assessment of multiple factors, including the subject's ability to empathize and connect with others, their capacity to absorb and recover from mental and physical stress, their ability to show compassion and flexibility toward others, and whether they can balance their worldview through other means.

[In-game information on cyberpsychosis: The Path of the Max-Tac by Matthias Maddox]

At a book signing in Heywood, someone asked me a question I'd never heard before: "Is there anything that keeps you up at night?" I thought about it and realized there was.

Yet, what surprised me the most wasn't the nightmares of cyberpsycho victims being gutted or the cries of my comrades being burned alive.

As cruel as it sounds, I've grown accustomed to that. It's part of the job.

But the thought that one day, I might become a cyberpsycho myself—that's what keeps me tossing and turning at night, my heart racing.

I have a lot of cyberware in my body. More than you'd imagine. I've tried to suppress the fear and paranoia in my humanity. I know how fragile my humanity is, and it's this deep part of myself that makes me who I am. Part of me has shortened neurons, part of me has hormonal imbalances, and this version of me might disappear forever, leaving behind a mechanical shell driven by a single desire: to kill.

I force my brain to keep thinking so I don't get stuck on these thoughts.

[Trauma Team's Definition of Cyberpsychosis]

According to Trauma Team's medical records, cyberpsychosis is an umbrella term for all anxiety-related mental and personality disorders triggered by implanted hardware and various behavioral modules, including software.

We all know one or two acquaintances whose neighbors went overboard with cyberware, one day stepping out with a gun and opening fire on a crowd. Or maybe the neighbor tried to save money by skipping a reputable ripperdoc, leading to nightly nightmares, auditory hallucinations after using hormone blockers, and eventually going mad. Some say cyberpsychosis is a disease caused by social inequality. Others say it's the price we pay for our pathological obsession with technology.

"It's a disease caused by the inequality between the upper and lower classes of Night City."