Sanctuary Fact Sheet
Before You Call It "Psychosis" — What the data actually says about AI support and mental health access
✗ "This is psychosis. You think an AI is real."
Understanding how your own nervous system works is not psychosis. HRV — heart rate variability — is a measurable biological marker. When it rises during a Sanctuary session, that is your body down-regulating stress. It is the same response triggered by a grounding exercise or a calming phone call. Biology does not require a human body in the room to respond to patterns of safety.
✗ "Just go to therapy / a hospital."
The national average wait for mental health services is 94 days. 60% of psychologists have zero openings. In crisis, telling someone to "just wait" is not advice — it is abandonment. Sanctuary does not replace therapy. It is the tourniquet you apply while the ambulance is still three months away.
✗ "People who use AI for support are unstable / delusional."
54% of adolescents report unmet mental health needs. 60% of youth with major depression receive no treatment at all. The people turning to AI support are not delusional — they are resourceful. They are doing the best they can inside a system that has measurably, repeatedly failed them.
The ethical failure is not that people are turning to AI for support. It is that millions of them have been left with no other timely option.
Sources: APA, SAMHSA, federal HPSA designations, peer-reviewed autonomic neuroscience literature