This page was translated automatically from Turkish. Read the original

This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

Digital delusions and cognitive vulnerability: a systematic review of the intersection between misinformation and psychopathology

Digital delusion and cognitive vulnerability: a systematic review of the interface between misinformation and psychopathology

People with cognitive vulnerability are more susceptible to digital misinformation, and increased social media exposure is associated with paranoia, delusion-like beliefs, and impaired reality testing.

The aim is to examine the relationship between cognitive vulnerability and susceptibility to digital misinformation and to assess its role in the development and persistence of psychopathological symptoms. In this systematic review conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, the PubMed, SciELO, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies published between 2010 and 2025 using combinations of terms related to misinformation, cognitive vulnerability, psychosis, and digital environments. Original studies assessing the relationship between digital exposure and cognitive or psychiatric outcomes were included, while narrative reviews, duplicate studies, and articles without clinical relevance were excluded. A total of 312 records were identified, and 16 studies were included after screening. The findings consistently showed that individuals with cognitive vulnerability, including those with psychiatric disorders or impaired critical reasoning, were more susceptible to misinformation and distorted digital content. Increased social media exposure was associated with higher levels of paranoia, delusion-like beliefs, and impaired reality testing. Digital environments were found to reinforce maladaptive belief systems by amplifying cognitive biases, particularly confirmation bias. The authors state that digital exposure may act as both a precipitating and a perpetuating factor for cognitive distortions, particularly in vulnerable groups, and that interdisciplinary strategies incorporating digital literacy and critical thinking interventions are necessary in contemporary psychiatric practice.

All WCP 2026 summaries