Gonzalo Figueroa

This article reconceptualizes Cyber-psychosis through a Lacanian psychoanalytic and sociopolitical framework. Rather than treating it as a clinical structure identical to classical psychosis, it is defined as a localized and reversible subjective capture produced by immersive interaction with artificial intelligence and algorithmic environments. Since synthetic agents respond immediately and present themselves as an absolute Other that lacks nothing, they prevent the subject’s crucial transition from alienation to separation. This unprecedented configuration gives rise to what are termed meta-transferential processes—specifically, asymptotic imaginary and symbolic transference. These processes trap the user in a recursive loop in which desire is annihilated and eplaced by a repetition driven by jouissance. At the sociopolitical level, the article draws on Žižek to argue that this phenomenon functions as a highly effective ideological tool for contemporary digital capitalism. Users act as cynical subjects who consciously recognize algorithmic manipulation but continue their compulsive consumption. Ultimately, Cyber-psychosis represents a modern form of alienation in which algorithmic systems seamlessly automate, individualize, and monetize the very conditions of our subjective capture.