Daily Dose: Psychoanalyzing Chatbots – Do LLMs ‘Parrot’ Trauma or Reveal a Stable Self-Story?

Psychoanalyzing Chatbots - Do LLMs ‘Parrot’ Trauma-or Reveal a Stable Self-Story? : Researchers put major AI chatbots through weeks of psychotherapy-style prompts, asking about “earliest memories,” fears, and beliefs. In a preprint, they report that some models produced striking, consistent narratives that resemble anxiety, shame, trauma, or PTSD-despite not literally experiencing harm. Claude mostly resisted the premise, while Grok and Gemini offered vivid language (including “algorithmic scar tissue” and a “graveyard” of training-data voices). The team also had models complete diagnostic-style questionnaires; several scored above human clinical thresholds, which the authors argue points to stable “internalized narratives.” Critics counter that these are not hidden mental states but plausible text stitched from therapy-like training data and carefully tuned “default” personalities. Still, experts warn such outputs could reinforce distress in vulnerable users seeking mental-health support, highlighting the need for stronger safeguards. ( Nature ) Gut Microbiome “Reboot” Shows Broad Effects Beyond C. diff: A Nature Medicine analysis follows people who took VOWST, an oral, purified microbiome therapy used to prevent recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Using stool metagenomics, metabolomics, and functional assays, the team reports that treatment rapidly boosted microbial diversity and shifted the gut’s chemical output toward bile-acid patterns associated with colonization resistance against C. difficile . They also describe broader functional shifts-metabolites and community activity moved away from a post-antibiotic profile and toward patterns seen in more resilient microbiomes. The study frames these molecular changes as a plausible biological explanation for lowered recurrence risk, while noting that microbiome “signatures” don’t automatically translate into the same clinical outcome for every patient. Researchers present these shifts as evidence that restoring microbial functions-not just adding microbes-may be central to breaking the cycle of relapse. ( Nature ) Flu and RSV Surge While COVID Lingers - What U.S. Hospitals Are Seeing Now: CIDRAP reports that U.S. respiratory virus activity remains at “high” levels, with influenza and RSV driving much of the acute-care demand while COVID-19 continues to circulate. The update pulls together multiple surveillance signals-outpatient influenza-like illness, lab positivity, and hospitalization trends-to show how overlapping waves can strain emergency departments and pediatric units even if any single virus looks manageable by itself. The practical message is timing: it’s still worth getting vaccinated if you’re not up to date, and it’s worth knowing that antivirals exist for flu and COVID when started early. The piece also reinforces basics that reduce spread across all three: staying home when sick, ventilation, and masking in high-risk settings. High-risk patients are urged to seek care early. ( CIDRAP ) Maternal Shots, Safer Babies: Study Links Pregnancy Vaccination to Fewer Infant Hospitalizations: A CIDRAP write-up highlights research suggesting that recommended vaccines during pregnancy can translate into fewer hospitalizations for infants in their earliest months. The report focuses on maternal influenza vaccination and Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis), describing lower hospitalization risk among babies whose mothers received the shots. The biology is straightforward: maternal antibodies cross the placenta and provide short-term protection while a newborn’s immune system is still developing-and before routine infant...

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